


Attack on Panem

by Amelia Abernathy (authr2b)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Angst, Gen, Heartbreak, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-16 15:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1352902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authr2b/pseuds/Amelia%20Abernathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ah, President Reiss, yes we have a very promising bunch of Tributes this year, I think we'll be in for a real treat this Quarter Quell. Oh, and do you remember those Mutations we used at the end of the last Quell because we had to many tributes left? Well, we're bringing them back.</p><p>Happy Hunger Games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reaping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MarshaDecamiro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarshaDecamiro/gifts).



> This was a requested piece by my best friend, who obviously is trying to kill me via heartbreaking fan fictions.

Jean followed the line of boys that were lining up in District 12’s square. All anyone could hear was the sound of the kids walking. Jean looked to his older brother for comfort, but did not receive any, as his brother was looking straight forward. 

Jean joined the other fifteen year old boys towards the back while his brother went to stand in the very back with the eighteen year olds. He shivered and glanced around. His father, the mayor, was already on the stage next to his oldest brothers, two of the four living District Twelve Victors. There was an empty chair between them and the female victor that was meant for the mentor, but he never came to the reapings. 

And beside the female victor sat the sponsor for their district, Hange Zoe, who was busy fixing her make-up.

It took a few moments for all of the children to march into the square. 

Jean’s father took the stage and welcome them to the reaping and gave the long speech that everybody had memorized. After a short video, he sat down and Hange walked -up to the microphone.

“Hello.” She said creepily, and there was a noticeable shudder through the children. “It’s time to figure out who the tributes are for this Hunger Games. As always, ladies first.” She moved to the large glas bowl and shoved her hand down in it, smiling. She ruffled around and pulled out a slip of paper.

She walked back to the microphone, and slowly opened the piece of paper. Half of the families in the audience, and all of the girls, were holding their breaths.

“Mikasa Ackerman.” Hage said, looking up eagerly for the new Tribute. A loud sob echoed through the square as a beautiful young woman, who was as calm as it was possible to be, walked into the main aisle and walked down to the stairs. Jean caught sight of the girl’s mother bent over, trying to hold in the rest of her sobs.

‘Shame.’ He thought, ‘As pretty as she is, she could have married well and lived a good life.’ Mikasa took her place behind the girl’s bowl, her face clean of emotions. Hange patted the girls shoulder before walking to the boy’s bowl, and once again, the families and the boys held their breath as she picked the name and walked to the mic.

She opened the piece of paper and smiled far too wide. “Jean Kiersten.”

Jean felt his stomach drop. He made his way to the aisle and then to the stage. Noticing that his family didn’t look sad. In fact, they looked as if they were hiding their pleasure.

With two brothers that had won the Games, the rest of Panem would believe that his family was proud to have their son in the Games. But all of District Twelve knew they were just glad to be rid of their disappointment of a son.

Hange made them shake hands, then the two tributes were ushered into waiting rooms to receive their visitors. Since their rooms were right across from each other, Jean could hear Mikasa’s parents weeping and reminding their only daughter how much they loved her.

His parents never came.

But, right as their visiting time was comingtoan end, his door was opened and the female victor came in. He started up.

“Petra?” he asked, disbelieving. She smiled crookedly.

“Didn’t think I’d let my best friend go off without saying good bye, did you?” she asked. Petra walked up and handed him a small leather pouch. “It was my good luck token that my parents gave me. I want you to take it.” 

Jean reached out with shaky fingers and took the pouch. He reached into it and pulled out a leather cord with a small metal charm at the end in the shape of a set of wings overlapping each other. “Th- thank you, Petra.”

The girl smiled. “Well, I’m the youngest Victor in history, so maybe it has even more luck now that I’ve won.” Jean thought back to four years previous, when he’d watched his twelve year old friend survive through the games.

“Let’s hope so.” They said good bye, hugged, and Petra left the room.

 

Half an hour later, Mikasa and Jean were escorted onto the train. Mikasa was now shaking, he guessed that seeing her parents like that had gotten to her. Jean played with the charm, trying to distract himself with it. Once tey reached the safety f the train car, they both gave a shaky sigh.

“Why, why me?” Jean moaned, falling into a chair. “Why couldn’t it have been my brother?” He heard Mikasa hiss, then fealt her heel smash into his toes. “OWW!” he yelled, yanking his foot back. The girl was glaring down at him.

“We’re facing life and death here. Don’t complain about the fact it’s you that got picked, cause in case you haven’t noticed, you aren’t the only one.” She motioned to herself. Jean noticed that she was wearing a long red muffler, one she hadn’t been wearing at the reaping. “I have to go home to my parents.” She sat down across from him as Hange tripped onto the train and it started forward.

“Ah, good, you’re getting to know each other, let me go get your mentor.” She said before wobbling down the hall and out of the compartment. The two teens stared each other down.

“You know, I might have to kill you so that I can go home.” The girl said nonchalantly. 

“You realize that the only reason we’ve got this many Victors is because they were able to hide until the end, right? And even then, the other tribute died quickly. One of us is going to die quickly.” Jean said, repeating what his brother had told him while watching the previous year’s games.

“Well, why don’t you be a gentleman and let me be the one that hides out till the end?” Mikasa’s face remained smooth and emotionless.

“You’re a creepy little bitch. Did you know that?” The door opened behind him and they looked up to see the small black haired man that had won the games at the last Quarter Quell. He looked them over, sighed and got something off of the counter full of food.

“So, Ackerman and Kiersten. I knew your mother’s when I was in school. They were good friends of mine. Along with your father, Ackerman. I-“ he stopped and looked at a self. He ran his finger along it and looked at the finger and scrunched his nose. “They never think to dust this damn thing after it’s been sitting in the station for six months.” 

“Sir?” Mikasa asked, drawing the man’s attention back to them. “When will you begin teaching us how to win?” she asked. he cocked an eybrow.

“First, just call me Levi, not sir. Second, that begins after you two have taken a shower and changed into clean clothes. I can see a layer of dust over your skin from the dirt and coal of that damn filthy district.” The two teens looked down at their skin, they didn’t look dirty. “The faster you bathe the faster you learn how to survive.” He finished and motioned for them to go take a shower.


	2. Tips and Tricks

Mikasa was allowed to sit in Levi’s presence after her first shower. Jean, however, was forced to shower again two more times.

The third time he came out, Levi sighed. “Not as good as the girl, but it’ll do.” And motioned for Jean to sit next to Mikasa. The moment Jean sat, Levi launched into all sorts of tips and tricks about hiding and finding food in the games. Jean fell asleep three times, his energy drained by the day’s dramatic events. Each time the other two noticed he’d drifted off, he received a sharp kick to the shin.

Eventually, Hange made them move their conversation to the dinner table, where Levi instructed them to eat as much as possible, even if they got full. Jean obeyed without question. He’d been too nervous to eat at all that morning. Mikasa had some doubts, however.

“But what if we eat too much and become sick?” she asked. Levi smiled. 

“I like you. I’ve arranged for there to be pills for nausea on your bedside tables after you shower again.” this made the teens groan. “But, in the event that your stomach vacates itself beforehand, come back in here and eat more, then take the pills.” 

Mikasa, ever a lady, ate just enough so that she wasn’t sick. Jean, however, had to follow the latter half of Levi’s instructions. 

He passed by Mikasa’s room on the way back from his second trip to the food car, and heard her loud sobs through the door.

‘So even the strong can cry.’ He thought, walking into his own room.

He felt proud of himself when he woke up, because, even though Mikasa seemed to be Levi’s favorite and did everything right, he’d only shed a single tear the night before.

 

The lecture continued over breakfast the next morning. And these seemed to be the most important tips.

“Make sure that the first thing you do is find water and make sure you purify it, you don’t want to find out what happens otherwise.” Levi said, before taking a long gulp of hot chocolate. “When you’re scrounging for food, if you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it.” The teens nodded.

“Never start a fire after nightfall or in the middle of the day. The other tributes will be able to see the smoke or the light and go find you.” The teens nodded again. Levi sighed. “My Mentor told me that you should avoid the Cornucopia at all costs. I believe he’s both right and wrong. If you did well enough in training, and are confident you can get in there quickly and leave before anyone else gets near it, then I suggest you do it. If not, get out and get water.”

The train jerked to a stop and they got up to leave the train. Mikasa wrapped the muffler tighter around her neck and the four of them made their way to the door and onto the platform. 

“While you two were bathing last night, I made a list of kids picked as tributes. There are some on there that I’d worry about, and I circled them for you.” He said, handing the list to Mikasa.

Jean peaked over her shoulder at the list and looked at the list.

“Why would tributes from the Luxury and Masonry district be a problem?” Mikasa asked.

“Careers, they’re trained to do this from the time they start school. There was a huge uproar four or five years ago when they announced that only family members could volunteer for tributes in the Career districts.” Jean answered. “Because of that, Petra won.”

“Yes,” Levi said, “Which is why they are so dangerous this year, they are older, and were able to volunteer because their siblings were picked.” 

“What about this kid here, Eren Yeager. He’s only fourteen, so even though he’s from the lumber district, he won’t be a big deal.” Levi laughed.

“I’m friends with his mentor, Erwin, and I talked to him last night, he said that the boy is as wild as a corner bear, and therefore about five times more dangerous.” They kept scanning the list, and Mikasa found two names that made her frown.

“But, these two here, Marco Bott and Mina Carolina, they’re from a district that’s in worse shape than ours, they haven’t had a single winner since before your games. Why would they be dangerous?”

“Because they’re nice kids, and in the games, nice kids can turn out to be back-stabbing bastards.”


	3. The Parade

They were lead into a large building and taken to two different rooms, where three assistants waited to make them presentable for the parade that night.

None of the tributes had ever experienced so much pain. They were all waxed, plucked, scrubbed and exfoliated to the brink where they thought they’d die in those rooms.

Jean thought he’d been there for days before the assistants deemed him ready for the main stylist. He fell into a chair and pushed a button to bring him food. He snacked on cookies until the stylist, a slim woman, walked in. 

“Hello dear, I’m Rico. Welcome to the capitol she said with a smile. What have you thought of our fair city so far?”

“It’s painful.” Jean said truthfully. Rico laughed.

“Yes, I guess it must have been. I remember getting waxed for the first time.” She smiled fondly. “I also remember your brother’s coming in and being styled by me and my team. If it’s any help, they said you didn’t scream near as loud or as much as your brothers. At least according to my team.” She winked, making Jean smile.

“Weren’t you also Petra’s stylist?” he asked, the memory of his friend’s games clearer than his brothers’. Rico nodded.

“Yes, yes I was. I thought she could use a motherly figure, and that she’d be more comfortable with a female stylist than a male one. Sweet girl. But back to you. I think that you need more help than your brothers did, in some ways. You’re still young and therefore, not as handsome as your brothers. They were able to skate by on their looks and their act of kindness. But, you need to have something that brings attention to you, and I’d like to repeat the work of one of my predecessors. You’re both going to shine.”

 

An hour or so later, Jean was allowed to look at himself in the mirror. He looked like a prince out of a story book. He wore black leather pants and boots, and a black leather vest, the clung to his chest, allowing the puffy red sleeves of his linen shirt to fall out and gather at his wrists. They’d put some make-up on his face (which he’d tried to protest) and he looked older. On his head they’d put what seemed to be a gold crown covered with red and orange gems.

“I look like an idiot.” He said. The assistants jumped on that and tried to reassure him that he looked kingly. But he didn’t buy it.

He was then lead into the stables, all the way to the back. He noticed that Rico was carrying something long and black in her arms, and hoped that she wasn’t planning to put it on him, he was wearing to much as it was.

He spotted Levi, hear a set of black horses, then he saw Mikasa, she looked like a queen, her already beautiful face was brought out by pale powder over her face, black liquid surrounding her almond shaped eyes and something red and shiny covered her lips. She wore a long, black gown that had a jeweled belt around the waist, and there was red embroidery down the sleeves and skirt. Her hair was put up in a simple but elegant bun, and a crown, much like Jean’s rested on her head.

“I see I’m not the only one that looks ridiculous. She said, taking in Jean and the black whatever on Rico’s arm. Jean realized that her stylist was also holding the same thing in his arms.

“Enough chit-chat. You two look around; tell me who you think you should keep an eye on.” Levi instructed. So Jean took a place next to Jean and looked around. Right off the bat, he spotted two large boys, a tall girl, and a shorter girl. 

“Them.” He pointed at the group. “They’ll be the careers.” Levi smiled and nodded.

“The blond boy and the short blonde are from District One. Annie Leonhart and Reiner Braun. The other two are Bertholt Hoover and Ymir something or other. They’ll have trained for this for the past sixteen years. Watch out for them.” The teens nodded and continued looking. After a moment, Mikasa snorted and pointed. 

“The tree boy.” Jean and Levi followed her gaze to see a brown haired boy wearing a chin to toe suit that looked like bark, a hat that looked to be made up of leaves, and an expression that said that if anyone dare point out how hysterical he looked that he’d rip their throats out. Beside him stood a one armed man that was trying to calm down the girl from that district, who was about to burst into tears.

“Ah, Eren Yeager. A very violent young man.” Levi nodded. Jean spotted what he thought was a coil of wire, but turned out to be a boy wearing an outfit made of copper wire. He looked like he was having a panic attack and being calmed by a very kind looking man.

“Who’s the little kid over there?” Jean asked, nodding to the boy.

“Oh, that’s Armin Arlert. I wouldn’t bother much with him. He’ll be dead ten minutes after the gong sounds.” At that moment a bell sounded, letting the tributes know it was time to get on the chariots. Jean and Mikasa walked onto theirs, and stood still, frowns on their faces, as long black leather capes were placed on their shoulders and fastened across their chests by bejeweled chains.

“Look forward.” Rico instructed, “And do not look back until you get to the housing stables.” The teens did as they were told and Levi moved in front of them.

“Smile. Be friendly. Wave. Pretend these people aren’t finding the ends of your lives entertaining. You need their money.” Levi said as cheers sounded. The first Chariot had left. Levi waved them good bye and left the stables, followed by the stylists.

“Jean, hold my hand, please.” Mikasa whispered. 

“Why?” 

“Because I feel like I’m going to faint and need the support.” She sounded nervous, so Jean took her hand, and felt a little more comforted by it as well.

“Why do we have to do this?” Jean asked, eyeing the Chariot in front of them. A boy with hair that looked like chocolate stood in front of them, smiling as if this was the most fun in the world. 

“I don’t know.” Mikasa muttered back. The boy in front of them turned back to them, smiling, his eyes sparkling.

“Isn’t this amazing? We’re in the capitol eating wonderful food and sleeping in the most lavish places! It’s such an honor!” He said, needing to yell over the sounds of applause as the District Three chariot left the Stables.

“How can you see it that way? We’re probably going to die! And we’ll be starving and trying to kill each other so that we can go home!” Jean yelled back. But the boy just shrugged.

“I’ll have the memory while I’m in the arena, and if I’m lucky, I’ll win! Then I’ll get to go home and live like this for the rest of my life!” He said enthusiastically. Jean shook his head.

“You’re crazy.” He informed the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Marco, Marco Bott. And yours?”

“Jean Kirstein.” The boy leaned over as far as he could and held his hand out.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jean.” He said. Jean hesitated for a moment then reached out and shook the offered hand.

“The same goes for you.”

Another shout went up as the District Five chariot left. 

“Don’t bother with him anymore. He’s one of the ones Levi said to avoid.” Mikasa said in a low town, looking at the overly cheerful boy with a touch of disgust.

“I dunno. He doesn’t seem like he’d be a back stabber.” Jeans said. He actually admired the boy. He was faced with certain death, and was still cheerful and honored that he got to live in such luxury, even for a short time. And he wasn’t bad looking, either.

“Still, people can show you a side that’s fake and then, when they’ve earned your trust, can turn around and, in reality, be nothing like the person they showed you.” Mikasa murmured. Jean nodded.

It was agony, waiting for the chariots leave one by one. They all waited in silence, listening to Marco’s chatter about the food and the view from his window of the capitol. 

Finally, the District Ten chariot left the stable. Marco shut up, nervous. But Jean noticed that he was still cheerful and had an almost contagious smile.

The District Eleven chariot rolled out of the stable and Mikasa squeezed Jean’s hand even harder.

“Don’t let me fall.” She instructed while putting on a sweet smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Jean replied, also starting to smile. Finally they rolled onto the main street and were met by loud cheers. The two waved and smiled as they rolled down. He noticed that the crowd was loving Marco, who was throwing kisses, and bowing and doing other ridiculous things.

A bouquet of flowers flew towards Mikasa, who deftly caught them, sniffed, then fluttered her eyelashes delicately while giving a coy smile and blushing. It scared Jean to see her acting as a completely different girl than the one that enjoyed inflicting pain upon him. 

After what seemed like an eternity of waving and smiling, they rolled into the stables under the tribute housing. Mikasa gave a long sigh and turned to Jean, but before she could say anything, her eyes widened with horror and her mouth fell open.

“What?” Jean asked, turning, “Do I have a- WHAT THE HELL?”

Their capes were on fire. The two quickly undid the fastenings and jumped out of the cart, going “Am I still on fire?!” over and over. Levi walked calmly up to them, followed by Rico, who had a fire extinguisher in her hands.

“Good thing you followed instructions.” Levi said with a slight smile. “That could’ve been bad if you hadn’t.” The two glared at him. “Oh well, let’s go upstairs and get something to eat.

 

It took them forever to clean off all of the make-up. By the time they had finished bathing, they were starving. Levi smiled as they stuffed themselves on stew and pork and fruit.

“I heard that you talked with the District Eleven boy.” Levi said, turning to Jean. 

“I did.”

“What do you think of him?” Levi asked. Jean chewed thoughtfully, thinking first of the warm brown eyes and the pleasant smile, then moving his mind to the boy’s personality.

“He’s too excited about the whole deal, too honored by the fact he got to come here and be treated like a Capitol citizen before being shoved into a death fight.” Jean said. Levi nodded. 

“He’s also way to friendly and nice.” Mikasa said, putting down her spoon. “We might find out, maybe too late, that he’s the kind of person that would stab you in the back to ensure his own survival.” Jean and Levi snorted.

“And you aren’t? I saw you out there, Mikasa; you went from serious and deadly to flirtatious and bubbly in a heartbeat.” Levi said. “I feel like I should advise Jean to stay away from you.” 

Mikasa smirked. “Well, maybe you should. I want to go home, and nothing will stop me from seeing my parents again.”


	4. Day One

Jean had a hard time sleeping that night. He was tired and sore and full, but there was too much on his mind.

For one, they hadn’t announced the twist for this Quarter Quell yet. The last quarter Quell, twice the number of Tributes had been thrown in the arena. And, when they’d still had twelve tributes left two weeks later, they’d released horrible mutations that they called Titans into the arena. The Titans ate all but one of the remaining tributes, who had survived by using two swords and climbing trees, even though some of the Titans were taller than the trees. He’d jumped and ran across tree limbs so quickly even the huge mutations couldn’t keep up with him.

And that victor was sleeping just down the hall from him. 

That was why Jean was very happy to have Levi instead of one of his brothers. Levi had won with forty-five other tributes to fight. He’d survived better than his brothers and Petra. Levi could be the reason he or Mikasa survived.

But with the Game-Makers having not made an announcement… that could only mean bad things were in store.

Then there was the matter of Marco. The sweet, almost naïve boy from District Eleven with the chocolate hair and eyes. 

Jean kept trying to push the boy out of his head, but the sweet face kept pushing its way to the front of Jean’s mind.

This was a source of embarrassment among his family. The fact that he could think about a good looking boy the same way he could think about a good looking girl was at the top of the list of disappointing things about the youngest Kirstein boy.

‘But in a couple of weeks, they’ll be proud of me.’ He thought. ‘Because I’ll have either won the games, or I’ll have had the decency to die, and leave them with three sons that are actually worth something.’

 

Jean woke to find more skin-tight clothes draped on a chair. What was Rico trying to say with these clothes?

He dressed as quickly as he could, and walked into the main room to find that Mikasa was also wearing tight clothes, though her shirt was a touch looser than his. Levi sat at the table, looking at them with concern.

“When they’ve dressed Tributes like this in the past, it means they’re typically going to start you off by training you in how to use the 3D devices. That can either be good or bad. It can mean you’re issued the device and it puts you on equal playing ground, or it means that there will be one or two devices, and that about twenty-two of you are screwed.” Levi said over a cup of tea.

They both nodded. They ate in silence this morning, which gave Jean more time to think about the good looking Marco. How he wished that boy would get out of his mind.

 

Mikasa and Jean had to take the elevator from the very top floor, meaning when Marco Bott and Mina Carolina form District Eleven needed to get on, their elevator stopped and the two got on. The girls stood to the front, silent as stones. Marco, on the other hand, stuck up a conversation with Jean the minute the doors closed.

“There were a bunch of people last night, weren’t there? Did I see, her, get a bouquet of roses?” Marco asked, pointing to Mikasa. Jean nodded.

“Yeah, I think the crowd liked her.” 

“They seemed to like you too. I think I saw a few girls faint when you waved at them.” Jean shook his head.

“No, you were probably the one that made them do that.” He replied. “You’ve got that air about you.”

“Well, thank you.” Marco smiled brightly, making Jean’s heart melt a little bit. “Aren’t the rooms nice here, though? The beds and pillows are so soft here it’s like sleeping on a cloud!” Jean smiled sadly.

“I guess, yeah, but I kind of miss my bed back home. It wasn’t as soft, but I probably could have slept better on it.” Jean said wistfully. Marco smiled and clasped Jean’s shoulder.

“Sorry, man. But hey, maybe you’ll be able to go home and sleep in your own bed again.” He said brightly.

Jean smirked. “Not if Mikasa has her way.” He replied, and the girl turned and shot a glare at him. 

Jean smiled at her as the door opened and Eren Yeager stomped in, making them shift around to make room. And it was at that moment that Jean became very aware that Marco, who was standing right next to him, was wearing skin tight clothes.

 

After an uncomfortably long ride, where the Tributes from Districts One and Two joined them as they went down, far under the ground to the training center. He was squeezed between Marco, Eren and Mikasa. The latter two had struck up a conversation about their pets back home.

‘Oh, so you can talk to the kid with anger management issues but I can’t talk to the nice kid?’ Jean thought, watching her laugh.

“What do you think they’ll train us for? Marco asked to the room in general. The Careers just rolled their eyes, but Eren and Mina shrugged.

“Don’t you watch the Games?” Mikasa asked over Jean’s shoulder. “They have a collection of areas and tutors for us to move around and visit. Certain areas we’ll have to go to, but the rest is what we choose.” She finished and turned back to the door.

After an uncomfortable moment, the door opened into the training room and they all flooded out. They were stopped at the entrance, and assistants pinned their district numbers to their clothes.

The twenty-four contestants made a circle around a podium where a stern woman stood, wearing tight clothes, and what Jean supposed was the 3D device, which was attached to her body by a multitude of leather straps. 

“Hello everyone. In one week, most of you will be dead. In two weeks, all but one or two will be dead. We’re here to help each one of you win. But we can only help you to a certain point. What you learn or don’t learn is left to you. But today we will focus on teaching you what you will all need to know in order to survive in the games. Which will consist of learning how to use this.” She patted the large device that was hanging from her waist. “3-dimensional maneuvering devices. These have been used before, but not often. They will allow you to swing through trees with a great amount of speed. They could be the reason you live, and also the reason you die. It depends on the person strapped inside them. Now let’s get you suited up.”

The assistants came forward with a bunch of leather straps and helped all of the tributes into them. Jean was shocked by the fact that they covered his entire body. Why did they need to be all over?

Once they were sure that all of the tributes had the straps on, they lead them over to large wooden structures set up on one side of the room.

“Districts Twelve, Eleven, Ten and Nine, step forward.” The woman yelled. The eight kids walked up to the instructors, who lead them to the large structures and hooked them to long wires that seemed to be attached to a pulley, from what Jean could tell. “Try to keep upright, don’t fall forward or backward or wobble around! Stay as straight and as still as possible!” The woman said, and waved her arm. The assistants started spinning large wheels, and the eight kids felt themselves rise into the air. 

The Tributes from Ten started to flail around a little bit, the girl cursing loud enough for all to hear, but they got themselves upright after a moment. The Tributes from nine, however, were falling every way possible; the girl even did a somersault. Mikasa, on the other hand, looked like she was just standing around, watching this go on.

Jean, Marco, and Mina had to put a little more effort into it, but they didn’t move. After a moment, they were let down and unclipped. “Good, you eight proceed to the next station. Districts Eight, Seven, Six, and Five step forward!” The next eight kids stepped up to the plate as Jean walked away next to Marco.

“That was fun.” Marco said. “I felt weightless.” Jean smiled and nodded. They were all pulled into a line as they were given the rest of their equipment and shown how to attach it. Once those instructors were pleased, they were sent on to the next station, which showed them how to move around using the device.

Mikasa, once again, was superior as they zoomed around the poles hanging from the roof. Jean passed Marco multiple times in the air and found that the other boy was laughing with pleasure.

They were eventually joined by the other Tributes and were learning how to fly without running into each other. After a few moments of them flying around, the woman got out a megaphone and put it to her lips. 

“Now time for your next lesson. Falling and landing!” The poles suddenly retracted into the ceiling, making many of the tributes quickly retract their hooks. Many screamed as they fell towards the ground. But Jean’s mind flashed to the videos he’d seen of Levi during his games.

He relaxed his body and right about to hit the ground, reached out and let his hands slap against the ground, then, using his hands, propelled himself into a somersault, and rolled away, with nothing but skinned hands to show for his fall.

He looked up, thinking it was pretty odd of them to give them a lethal fall and no padding, when the kids that would have died, namely the Tributes from Four, suddenly stopped a foot or so from the ground, then dropped with a huff onto the mat after they’d been stationary for a few seconds. A few others had this happen as well, but a good majority of the Tributes were able to roll or otherwise break the fault. Mikasa did a perfect roll, not even having skinned palms at the end.

They were all ordered to remove their gear and take a lunch. Mikasa and Jean sat together. Jean thought that Mikasa would’ve told Marco to go away when he took a seat next to Jean, but instead she smiled at him. 

They talked about using the 3D devices, and the amazing feeling of being able to fly.

“But,” Marco said, frowning slightly, “How did those kids suddenly stop?” he asked.

“Magnets.” A small voice said behind them. They turned to find Armin from District Three standing there. They motioned for him to sit and he obliged them. 

“Magnets? How could magnets do that?” Mikasa asked. 

“Well, there’s metal in all the right places of the gear, and if you take a powerful magnet with the same polarity as the metal, then it will push away the metal. But when there’s a person attached to the metal, it makes the metal stay in the place you’re at, until they turn off the magnet.” Armin said matter of factly.

“But, the rest of us didn’t experience that.” Jean pointed out. 

“Well, we were all in different spots, so they probably only turned on the magnets that applied to the ones that almost died.” Armin said through a mouthful of stew. “That’s just the way it works.” They all nodded before turning back to their meals.

“Hey, Armin, these fuckers aren’t bothering you, are they?” Asked Eren Yeager, who was strutting up to them.

“Cut the crap, kid.” Jean said. “I could beat you in a fight any day of the week.” The boy puffed up. 

“And don’t forget that the instructors and Peacekeepers are still watching us, ready to separate a fight if they have to.” Mikasa said to Eren. “Just pull up a chair and eat with us.”

 

After they’d finished eating, their equipment was given back to them, but they now had something in the slots of the devices.

“Take the controls for your 3D devices, and stick the top part onto a set of prongs.” They all followed her instructions, and after they felt a click, they pulled out long swords. Murmurs filled the room as they were brought forward to practice sparring with the blades with their district partner.


	5. Day Two

When the tributes woke up the next morning, every last one of them was sore in every area possible.

When Jean saw the outfit ready for him, he could have cried he was so happy. Loose trousers and a loose long-sleeved cotton shirt. As much as he like flying around, the clothes were just on the uncomfortable side.

He dressed and limped into the dining room. Levi and Hange looked up as he clumsily descended the stairs.

“Good morning, Jean! How was training yesterday?” Hange asked. “It looked like fun! Was it fun?” she asked in the same demented voice she used at the reaping. “Where’s Mikasa at? Is she still sleeping? Should I wake her up?” 

Levi nodded and shooed the woman away. “So, 3D devices. I could have used that in my games.” He muttered. “They must have something big planned for you.”

“From what I can remember, you didn’t need any help during your games.” Jean reminded him. A series of loud bangs, crashes, and screams echoed down the hall. 

“She’s up.” Levi stated. Hange scuttled out of the hall and almost face planted while going down the stairs, making the boys laugh.

“She’ll be here momentarily.” Hange said, mustering her dignity, or what was left of it.

Loud footsteps sounded down the hall. “Fucking hag! You don’t go into someone’s room without knocking!” Mikasa shouted as she stormed down the hall. “I could’ve been changing! I could’ve been right next to the door and you could’ve knocked me over!” she turned the corner then threw her heavy boot at Hange’s head. Hange fell to the floor with an outraged cry.

“Don’t throw your shoes at me!” the boot crashed into a large cabinet in the main room. “Hey! Watch it! That has some very expensive china in it!” Mikasa flipped the woman a bird as she retrieved her shoe.

“Like I care about your stupid china when I’m a few weeks from entering the games.” Mikasa said, rolling her eyes. “I have more important things to worry about.” 

Jean tried to smile at her, but she didn’t seem to see it.

 

They were the first ones out of bed that morning, and therefore the first ones into the training area.

“Go ahead and do whatever you want.” The woman from the day before told them. “Get a head start. God knows that seems to be the way you win in the games.”

They nodded and made their way down. There were more stations than yesterday, though they still saw that they had an option to practice with the 3D devices, but he doubted anyone would touch them till tomorrow. He and Mikasa made a stop at a station where the man showed them which plants were edible and which were poisonous, after which they tested themselves on a large screen identifying the plants. Mikasa remembered them all, but if it had been the Games, Jean would’ve died twenty different times.

By the time they finished there, the kids from District Two were limping in. They exchanged polite nods and went about their own business. Bertholt and Ymir spent most of their time with weapons, while Mikasa and Jean went around learning from the survival experts. They had learned to make traps (both for food and Tributes), how to start a fire, and various ways to purify water by the time Marco and Mina got caught up with them.

“Are we the only ones that feel like we’ve been run over by a train?” Marco asked when he reached them. They both shook their heads no.

 

Marco and Mina split ways after they’d taken a good look around. Marco decided that sticking with Mikasa and Jean, learning how to survive, while Mina thought it was better to learn how to fight.

“I bet you that girl will be among the first to die.” Mikasa said, looking up from her camouflaging project to look at the girl. Jean and Marco followed suit and watched her for a moment. Mina tried to throw ten knives at a target, five missed completely, four hit in areas that would only cause pain, and the last one hit in a fatal area. Mina looked pleased with her triumph, but Mikasa snorted.

“If she threw that one again, it’d kill you, but you’d still have enough time to take her with you.” She pointed out. “You’re screwed if you get a knife like that to the stomach, but you’d have a few minutes to live, which would give me at least enough time to take out the knife and throw in into her heart.” 

The boys shivered. Mikasa was probably a bigger threat than all the career tributes combined.

 

They had lunch with Eren and Armin again that day. Armin picked at his food until Marco asked him what was wrong.

“We’re sitting here being friendly, but in a few days, we’ll be enemies. Everyone wants to go home, meaning making friendships is absolutely pointless. If we are the last five alive, we’ll have to fight and kill one another to go home.” Armin explained. “This will just make it even worse when we get there.” 

The boys all went dead silent. But Mikasa shrugged.

“All four of you know that I’ll do anything to get back to District Twelve and my family. If I have to kill you to go home, I’ll be sad, but I won’t regret having to do it.” her nonchalant air made the boys shiver. She looked Armin in the eyes. “Either way, Armin, you’ll probably die in the first few days, so you won’t have to worry about me killing you.”

 

When they finished their lunch, they went to train with the weapons. Jean seemed to have a knack for the various swords, while Marco seemed to excel with the bows. Eren did well with the axe and Armin… Well it seemed that Mikasa was right. Armin had barely enough skill with the swords they’d used the day before to get by. But if he went up against anyone except the little girl from District Eight, he’d die.

And, to nobody’s shock, Mikasa did very well with everything put in front of her. 

Every tribute knew that they were going to need an insane amount of luck or at least four other tributes to get Mikasa out of the picture.

 

Outside of the training center, the entire Capitol watched them. There was a huge leader board in the main square with all of the tributes and the odds of their survival based on their skill. The citizens of the Capitol were making bets, mostly on Mikasa and the District One tributes, Annie and Reiner. 

Levi sat with Hannes, the District Three Mentor, and Erwin Smith, the District Seven Mentor.

“Looks like your tributes should are going to be ones to watch.” Hannes said over a glass of wine. “The girl has done wonderfully and the boy is better than most tributes from your district.” Levi nodded.

“Yes. Actually, his brothers were victors two years in a row, and he’s showing even more promise than they did. His brothers thought they put on a tough façade, were sniveling little brats that probably wet their pants on the first day. They stole and barely survived. Jean looks like he’s actually learning from his brother’s mistakes.” Levi said, watching as the boy picked up a sword and started dueling against Mikasa. “He might make it to the end if Mikasa doesn’t kill him first.”

“She frightens me. Did you hear what she told the boys over lunch?” Erwin said, scratching an itch on his stump. “That’s one of the first girls I’ve seen that said straight out that she’ll kill. Even the past Careers have only implied it.”

“Well, it’ll be a good year for District Twelve, no matter what happens. One of them will come home victorious.”

 

Back in District Twelve, Mikasa’s parents watched as their daughter chopped a manikin to pieces.

“Darling, do you think she’ll come back?” her mother asked. Her father nodded.

“Those children from One and Two might be problems, but from what I’ve heard, most of the bets in the capitol are on her.” He patted his wives shaking hand. “Our little girl will come home safe and sound.”

 

While, in the victor’s village, the entire Kirstein family was crowded around their oldest son’s television, with Petra Ral taking a seat at the bar.

“The boy is going to die.” His mother said flatly. “He’s not spending enough time on what matters.” Petra clinched her fist. She knew Jean was doing just fine. She’d talked to Levi, and he’d told her that Jean was seventh on the leaderboard.

“Look at him, going back to the water section! What good will that do him?” one of his brother’s yelled, waving at the screen.

“Just because you stole water doesn’t mean that it’s a useless thing to do.” Petra remarked. “Stealing water from the Careers is risky, and he’d do better to get his hands on a bottle and learn how to make his own drinking water.”

The entire family turned to look at Petra. She’d won the games by camouflaging herself and gathering her own food and water. She’d had to kill two people, and she did that by setting up traps.

“Well, look at miss smarty pants over there.” Said one brother. “My games were in a Deseret, I had to steal water”

“There was a lake a half mile to the left of your location, you were just too stupid to go look for it.” Petra hopped off her stool. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going home.”

 

Jean and Mikasa collapsed onto the couches that night. Levi and Hange brought their food to them and let them eat there so that they could rest.

“Petra called me.” Levi said. “She said to tell you you’re both doing extraordinarily well.” They smiled.

“And my brothers?”

“She said they think you’re being an idiot.”

“Of course they do.” Levi chuckled.

“Well, you obviously got all the brains in the family. Now, once you’ve eaten your fill, go to sleep you’ve a long day tomorrow.”


	6. Presentation

Jean and Mikasa made sure to wake up early the next morning so that they could be the first ones to the center again.

They quickly dressed and ate; Levi was just leaving his room when they started for the elevators.

“Don’t forget you’ve got to present your skills for the Game-Makers today.” He reminded them. “The scores you get can ensure the sponsors that have lined up for you two. If you only get mediocre scores, you could lose them. Aim to do better than the Careers.” They nodded and hopped into the elevator.

 

They spent an hour on various weapons. And it wasn’t until they’d gone back to test their plant skills that the other tributes started to arrive. Mikasa leaned over to Jean.

“Let’s spend the rest of our time over here. They might start to underestimate us if we don’t go back. And that can work to our advantage.” She whispered. He nodded, and then accidentally mislabeled a berry.

“Are you two nervous about presenting to the Game-Makers later?” Marco asked, in form of a greeting. They both nodded and he clapped them both on the back. “Me too.”

The training center was very quiet that morning. Most of the tributes were either tired or nervous or a mixture of the two. Even Marco was unusually quiet. Mikasa kept an eye of the Careers, who were busy practicing for the presentation. 

She noticed all four went back to certain areas over and over.

“Jean, look at the careers.” She muttered, turning him around.

Annie was kicking the ass of the hand-to-hand combat instructor, Ymir was throwing knives and every single one stuck where she wanted it to. Reiner was throwing spears at targets, each spear went through the dummies, with the spearheads fully poking out of the other side of the manikins, and Bertholt was slicing away at the virtual images in the simulator with the 3D swords.

“I’d bet you my house that they’ll be presenting those today. That’s what we need to look out for in the Arena. If you see they have those weapons, I’d suggest running in the opposite direction, or hiding.” Mikasa said, turning back to their station. Jean smiled at her.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.

 

They were called off right before lunch and were helped into the straps for the 3D devices. “This doesn’t mean you have to use them, it just gives you more time if you choose to use them. And if you all have them, it means the ones that do need it won’t have their secret spoiled.” The woman said, before dismissing them for lunch with a reminder that, starting in half an hour, the presentations would begin.

The same five kids sat around their table as, around Panem, televisions turned off. The presentations were a secret between the Tributes and the Game-Makers. 

When Reiner Braun of District ne was called into the room, Eren pulled a pack of playing cards out of his pocket. “Erwin gave them to me, so that we aren’t dwelling too much on presenting.” He said, then dealed out the cards.

 

A couple hours later, the girl from District Six was called, and he collected the cards because he’d be called next. 

Even Mikasa looked like she was going to be sick from nerves. She was going last, and didn’t know if she’d have the attention of the Makers.

What felt like an eternity passed before a voice called. “Jean Kirstein.” Jean rose and followed the assistant out, waving good bye to a pensive Mikasa.

He was shown through the door into the training center, right in front of the Game- Makers. 

“Jean Kirstein, District Twelve!” he yelled up to them. They turned and nodded for him to proceed.

He hadn’t known earlier what he was going to do, but his body took him towards the 3D devices. He only put two blades in the slots, he’d only need the two, and then he walked towards the simulator. 

He could see the Makers lean forward a little bit. Whether they were paying attention or if they were getting up to get a snack, he wasn’t sure.

He turned the dial to the highest difficulty and was satisfied to hear the Makers start to mutter over the difficulty as he stepped inside. The door closed and the windows darkened, which he was sure was only one-sided. 

“Are you ready?” a mechanical voice asked. Jean drew his swords and got into a fighting stance. 

“Yes.” He said. Suddenly figures came at him from all angles. His body moved without his mind having to think it out. He slashed and stabbed and rolled as what he believes to be one-hundred figures assaulted him. Once he’d decimated them all, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise before turning and throwing the blades, detaching them with a click, they soared end over end straight into the heart of two archers that had been hiding in the rafters, ready to shoot.

The windows returned to their normal clarity and he left, starting to detach the equipment. The Game-Makers were clapping. He smiled ad bowed to them before leaving his equipment to one of the assistants.

 

“Sweetheart?” a voice called. Mikasa looked up. “It’s your turn to go in.” Mikasa nodded and followed the woman. When she stood in front of the Game makers, they were buzzing with excitement. ‘Probably talking about the Careers.’ She thought. 

“Mikasa Ackerman, District Twelve!” she yelled, but they didn’t hear her. She frowned before bringing her fingers to her lips and making a whistle that had called her dog from the opposite side of the Seam. The Game-Makers started and turned to look at her.

“Mikasa Ackerman! District Twelve!” She bellowed, loud enough for them to hear her. The head Game-Maker motioned for her to start, and she quickly attached the 3D gear, and filled the slots with the blades. 

The buzzing started up behind her again as the assistant in charge of the 3D simulator asked her what difficulty level she wanted to use. “The highest you can go.” The assistant gave the girl a doubting look. But Mikasa knew that she’d only put out half of her speed and effort before. She zoomed to the ceiling and the simulation began. The girl zoomed between the columns faster than anyone had in the history of the Games. She’d ‘killed’ five dummies when she realized that the Makers were too busy talking to each other.

She sliced another dummy and yelled for the assistant to pause the simulator. She obliged and Mikasa zipped forward, landing with a hard thump on the Game-Makers platform. She rose as they all turned to her.

“I understand that you need to talk about the scores and the other tributes.” She said, her swords hanging from her hands. “But you’ll have an hour after me to discuss it. So I would appreciate it if you paid attention to me instead of each other.” She finished coldly, meeting the eye of each Game-Maker before turning and zipping back to the simulator.

“Turn it on!” she yelled, and was once again zipping around, slicing and dicing everything that came at her. After a few moments, the buzzer went off and she retracted her cords as the columns and dummies retreated. She landed lightly on the floor, like a cat jumping from the top of a cabinet. She bowed to the Makers and exited the center, forgetting she still had their equipment. 

The instructor stopped her hand helped her out before she went to the elevator and pressed the button for her floor.


	7. Score

Levi, Hange, and Jean turned as Mikasa walked into the main room. 

“Ah, hello, how did you do?” Levi asked.

“Fine.” She answered; worried that she might’ve pissed the Makers off by pointing out that they weren’t doing their job.

“Well, Jean just finished telling us about his presentation, and I think he’ll get a fairly high score.” Hange said. “Now all we need to do is to ensure that you get sponsors.”

Mikasa nodded. 

“Why don’t you two take showers before they announce the scores?” Levi suggested. “I don’t want to sit between two sweaty teenagers.” They obeyed.

 

Mikasa and Jean both finished just in time to watch the show. Caesar Flickerman popped onto the screen, smiling.

“God, how old is that man?” Jean asked. Levi merely shrugged and motioned for them to pay attention.

“Hello Panem! Here we are again!” Caesar said with a wide smile. “It’s time, once again, to review the scores of our tributes! Now, first up, Reiner Braun from District One.” A Picture of Reiner popped up.

“Reiner Braun received s score of nine!” Caesar said with a smile. “That’s a wonderful score, wonderful. And next is Annie Leonhart from District One, also with a score of nine!” a video of the two from the parade came up, with their scores floating over their head as they waved.

“Bertholt Hoover, District Two, with a score of eight! Good score son, just not good enough, I’m afraid. I believe we typically expect better from your district.” Caesar gave a comical frown before continuing. “Next is Ymir uh… how do you pronounce that… never mind, from District Two with a score of ten!” the video with the scores floating over their head appeared again. “Well done, dear, well done.”

“Armin Arlert, District three with a score of, seven! Will you look at that! That’s a good score for you young man!” The next few kids got horrible scores. 

“Eren Yeager, District Seven, with a score of nine! Good show!” Eren’s district partner, a small girl named Hannah, and the boy Franz, from District Eight both received a seven. “Krista Lenz, District Eight with a score of nine!” They all stared at the small girl in the video. “My, my, you are a firecracker, aren’t you?”

The two kids from Nine got such low scores that even Levi laughed.

“Now, Connie Springer, District Ten, with a score of eight! Nice job son, nice job! And Sasha Blouse, District Ten, with a score of nine!” a video of two goofy looking kids popped up.

“Look out for them, if they pulled that out, then I can almost guarantee that they’re smarter than they look. 

“Marco Bott, District Eleven. Son, you’ve captured the heart of my daughters, just to let you know. With a score of ten!” Levi looked shocked. “Mina Carolina, District Eleven, score of eight!” their video popped up, they were both smiling and waving to the crowd, though Mina’s looked forced while Marco’s looked genuine.

“And now, the two that have stolen the hearts of everyone in the capitol.” This earned a cry of surprise from the teens. “Jean Kirstein, District Twelve, with a score of… ELEVEN!” Hange started clapping as Caesar stated how amazing it was.

 

Back in Twelve’s Victor’s village, Petra was smiling. And the entire Kirstein family was shocked out of their minds.

“Atta boy, Jean.” Petra said, toasting the screen.

 

“Wow. And last, but not least, Mikasa Ackerman, District Twelve.” 

 

Then entire Seam sat on the edge of their seats.

 

“WITH A SCORE OF TWELVE LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!”

 

The entire Seam jumped up screaming and clapping as the video of the two teens with the highest scores came up on the screen. When neighbors came into the Ackerman household, they found her parents screaming “THAT’S MY GIRL!” over and over.

 

In the capitol, Mikasa burst into tears as the other three congratulated her and clapped her on the back. A few moments later, Rico and Mikasa’s stylist came into their apartment, carrying champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.

They celebrated the wonderful scores as, in the square outside, Mikasa and Jean’s name appeared at the top of the leader board. Levi could barely eat or drink for all of the phone calls he was getting from sponsors.

 

The next morning, Hange and Levi woke up the teens early so that they could practice for the interviews, which would be the following day. Hange made Mikasa wear an evening gown and ridiculously high heels and walk around in them all day.

This, amazingly enough, was one thing that the girl did not excel at. Hange made her walk around the room, while Levi and Jean tried not to laugh, the one time Levi did laugh; he almost had a vase crash into his head.

Levi watched the two teens interact before letting Mikasa sit down, Hange tried to correct how Mikasa sat, but Levi waved her off.

“Now, you two put on a great show at the parade, so I need you to keep that up. Jean, play nice. You did well by making friends with the boy from Eleven, so keep up the nice guy façade and smile, a lot.” Jean nodded. “And Mikasa, drop the Miss Deadly thing for a few hours, and act coy. When you get to Flickerman, act like the sweet and quiet girl you showed them at the parade. Don’t give the ‘I’ll kill everyone I have to’ thing. That turns them off. Got it?” Mikasa nodded.

Levi allowed Hange to correct their posture while he asked them questions, starting with ones like, ‘What do you like most about the capitol.’ Eventually he got to the questions very seldomly asked. ‘What will you do if you have to kill Jean/Mikasa?’ this hadn’t been asked in years, but before Jean could think of an answer, Mikasa burst into crocodile tears.

“I-if I ha-have to, I’ll d-do it. But,” she sobbed harder as everyone watched. “He’s s-so sweet a-and kind to me! I d-don’t want to be the one t-that k- kills him.” 

They all stared in her in awe; she let the waterworks go for a few more second before calmly looking up at Levi. “How was that?”

 

Jean realized that night that he’d have to be very wary of Mikasa. She could change her nature quicker than you could blink. And the convincing performance followed by an emotionless face… he shivered and turned over in his bed.

 

They were all ushered to the dressing rooms first thing the next morning. They were thoroughly washed and waxed again, bringing even Mikasa to tears.

They took a break for lunch, and then, and this creeped the children out quite a bit, the teams cleaned their teeth for them. None of them were used to it and nobody enjoyed the feeling. The stylists were brought in after that, and dressed them up. Normally the boys wore suits for the interview; instead she put him in loose black trousers, tucked into black leather boots, a dark blue linen shirt, and a black leather jacket. Maybe he’d stand out for not being so formally dressed.

But He noticed that they were using way to much make up on him. “The lights drain you out.” Rico explained before putting on another layer of powder on his face.   
“There, done.” She stated, then lead him through the tunnels to the back of the stage. He saw Marco across from him and waved. The other boy waved energetically, and mouthed “This is awesome!” making Jean smile and nod. The other boy turned to his mentor. Jean noticed that he was clad in yellows. They flattered him instead of draining him of color. 

‘Yellow for his bright and energetic personality, I guess.’ Jean thought, before turning, and losing his ability to breathe momentarily.

Mikasa was making her way towards him, wearing a midnight blue dress that accentuated her curves and flowed down to her ankles, but for the long slit that started at her thigh. She had been given small, strappy, heels. Her hair had been pinned up with blue flowers, and her makeup was simple, simply bringing out her natural beauty. As she drew closer, he saw that both her skin and dress were covered with a glittery silver dust.

They smiled at one another. “You look great.” He said.

She smiled. “You don’t look to bad yourself.”

Trumpet sounded and everyone’s face drained of color. Hange smiled.

“It’s show time!”


	8. Flickerman

The curtains opened and Caesar Flickerman stepped forward to tremendous applause.

“Hello!” he cried. “And welcome to the One-Hundredth HUNGER GAMES!” The crowd went nuts. Now, let’s see this year’s tributes!” More screams.

“From District one, ANNIE LEONHART AND REINER BRAUN!” The two blonds walked out to the top of a large set of raisers that had stairs running down the middle for Tributes going down to the stage.

“From District Two, YMIR,” he garbled her last name, “AND BERTHOLT HOOVER!” the two teens walked out opposite from Annie and Reiner. Marco started bouncing on his heels as Caesar introduced the few Districts. Jean heard a great laugh go up after the Tributes from Ten walked out. Rico leaned over and told them that Sasha had tripped on her dress and fallen into Connie. 

“From District Eleven, MINA CAROLINA AND MARCO BOTT!” Marco entered the spotlight waving, and being his normal cheerful self. This drove the crowd insane. None of the other tributes had interacted with the crowd and now they were so happy to be acknowledged by one of the celebrities.

“Last but definitely not least, the ones’ I know you’ve been waiting for!” Mikasa grabbed the crook of Jean’s arm. He looked back and she looked like she was going to hurl while she tried to smile. “The Tributes from District Twelve! MIKASA ACKERMAN AND JEAN KIERSTEIN!” The crowd went wild as they came onstage. Jean had placed his hand on Mikasa’s and lead her onto the stage so that she could focus on being coy or whatever. Caesar smiled at him.

“And look at him! Such a young gentleman!” He cried, winking at Jean. Jean smiled and shrugged. He wanted to tell Caesar that he couldn’t feel his arm because there was so much pressure on it. He could feel the glares of the other boys on his back. But he saw Marco smiling at him, giving thumbs up behind his back.

“Now, as you all know, this is the fourth Quarter Quell! And, as always, we’ve added a twist to this year’s games. But we really wanted to see the contestants’ faces when we made the announcement. So here it is, this year, we will have TWO WINNERS!” a great applause went up. Mikasa snatched her hand away from Jean’s arm and threw her arms around Jean’s neck. He wrapped his arms around her and could hear the rest of the tributes sighing in relief, Connie and Sasha started jumping up and down behind them and he heard Mikasa mutter that the Careers were high-fiving each other. Jean looked over to Marco, who was laughing with relief, and Mina, who had burst into tears.

“Yes! For the first, and probably last, time in history, we will have two winners! Now, why don’t we get to know our tributes?” the crowd yelled yes and Caesar turned. “Alright, lovebirds, why don’t you separate for the time being?” he said in Jean and Mikasa’s direction, the two jumped apart and turned bright red, making the crowd laugh. Jean saw Levi giving a thumbs up and mouthing ‘the hug was a good idea.’ “Let’s start with Annie!” Caesar said, motioning the girl down. The crowd clapped as she made her way down.  
About halfway down the stairs, Annie’s heel caught on the stair and she pitched forward, the crowd started to scream, but Jean darted out and caught her around the waist, keeping her from falling. The crowd started clapping and screaming again. Annie told him to go fuck himself, as he set her straight, but didn’t turn down his offered hand so that she didn’t fall again.

“Was that necessary?” Mikasa asked through closed lips. 

“Hey, she was about to crack her head open, can’t have that.” Jean replied through a smile.

“Annie, are you alright?” Caesar asked, “You almost gave me a heart attack.” Annie gave him a half smile.

“Well, we definitely can’t have that!” She replied. “We would never have a proper Hunger Games if you weren’t hosting.” Caesar smiled. 

“Well thank you, dear. You’re too kind.” They went on like that for the next five minutes, till a buzzer sounded, making Annie jump. 

“Oh! We’re out of time!” Annie smiled and waved at the crowd, she had a creepy smile, and she made her way back to the top, taking the hand that Jean offered her, but this time she dug her nails into his finger.

As the interview went on, Jean did this for every girl that walked down, except Ymir, who gave him a look that could’ve killed him.

After a while, Caesar looked over and said, “Marco, come down and join me!” Jean helped Mina up and Marco hopped off of the platform. The girls in the crowd went crazy, some even jumped up and down in their seats. 

“My, my, Marco, look at this mess you’ve caused.” Caesar said comically, the parents laughed. “My daughters are quite enraptured by you.”

“Is that so?” Marco asked, still smiling.

“Yes, my youngest says she’ll marry you when you win!” Marco chuckled and the crowd applauded. 

“I’m flattered.” 

“Well, tell us, Marco, what do you like most about the Capitol?” 

“Everything! The food, the rooms, the view of the city.” He gestured to the crowd. “The people.” The crowd went nuts again. “It’s hard to pick a favorite.” Caesar chuckled.

“I quite agree, though I must say I enjoy our food a bit too much.” He said, patting his stomach, earning a laugh from the audience. “Now, let’s talk about your score, a ten? From an outlying district, that’s amazing!”

Marco smiled even wider and nodded. “I know, I couldn’t believe it when I heard.”

“Can you tell us what you did that impressed them?” Marco shook his head.

“Come on, Caesar, you know the rules. I’d love to tell you, but I can’t.” Marco shrugged. 

Caesar heaved a sigh. “Alright, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But can you at least tell us why you’re always so happy?”

Marco looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “I guess it’s because this is more than I thought would happen. I got to travel here, I got to live in luxury, and I’ve made some good friends among my fellow Tributes. Even if I die, I’ll have had all of that.” The crowd cheered. 

“Well said, now, one more question, one I’m sure many here would like to know. Is there a special young woman waiting for you to return home victorious?” Caesar asked.  
Marco blushed, but didn’t get to answer because the buzzer went off, signaling his time was over. The crowd started making outraged cries and Marco shrugged and Caesar sent him back. Marco’s face went from smiley to extremely relieved as he walked up the stairs. 

“Yes, very disappointing. But, who knows? Maybe we’ll find out in a couple weeks! Now, I know you won’t find this disappointing.” He turned on the balls of his feet and pointed at Mikasa.

“Mikasa, it’s your turn!” he said, making the crowd cheer once more. As Jean helped her down the steps, the crowd started chanting her name. Mikasa blushed daintily as she crossed the stage to Caesar.

“Ah, Mikasa Ackerman. The beauty that came and shocked us all!” she smiled at Caesar.

“Oh, I’m not beautiful.” She said and the crowd started reassuring her instantly.

“Oh, my dear, if I didn’t have daughters you would have been the most beautiful woman I ever set my eyes on.” Mikasa placed her hand over her heart and smiled sweetly at her. 

“Thank you, Caesar, that’s the greatest compliment I could ever receive.” She said. He smiled down at her.

“Well, I’m about to give you another one. Your score, INCREDBLE! Can you please give us a hint as to what you did?” Mikasa thought it over.

“Well… No, I’m sorry. I can’t. You’ll see during the games, I promise.” Caesar nodded. 

“Fine, fine.” Caesar said with a sigh. “Well, obviously something’s motivating you to be the best of all the tributes, can you tell us?” Mikasa bent her head and bit her lip. “Don’t cry! Don’t cry.” Mikasa smiled a little bit.

“My parents.” She said, holding back tears. “I want to go home. When I win, I’ll get to live in a nice house and my parents will never have to worry about anything ever again.” the crowd awed and Caesar clasped at his heart. 

“Oh, now that’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. Well, whoever your parents are, they’re very lucky to have a daughter like you.” She smiled and a tear fell down her cheek. 

“I saw that you and Jean were very happy when you found out there would two victors, could you tell us why?” Caesar asked, you could hear the crowd sit on the edges of their seat. Mikasa smiled fondly at Jean, who returned the smile.

“Well, he’s a good friend, now that there can be two victors, I can keep him alive and we can go home.” The crowd burst into laughter at the look of outrage on Jean’s face. “I mean, I did get the higher score, and if he’s left alone to pick his own food… well. I’m sure you saw that fiasco during training.” She giggled. Jean turned a bright shade of red. He looked to Levi for help, but he was double over with laughter. The buzzer sounded and Caesar sent her back.

Jean grudgingly helped her back up.

“Last, but not least, Jean!” Jean made his way towards Caesar.

“Jean, how do you feel about Mikasa protecting you?” Caesar asked, his face alight with laughter, he saw Marco snort. 

“Well, since that’s coming from the girl that fell over after she put on heels yesterday; I think I’d be protecting her.” The crowd laughed. Something rammed into the back of his head and he yelped in pain. 

He turned around and saw Mikasa looking smugly at him, and Sasha standing behind her, with one barefoot. He looked down and saw that the other shoe lying at his feet. “Though I will say her aim is good.” He amended, picking the shoe up.

Caesar smiled. “Well, you two will definitely be the pair to watch.” He admitted.

“Now, Kirstein… You wouldn’t happen to be the brother of Carl and Gregory Kirstein would you?” Jean nodded. “Ho-ho! Looks like we might have a family of Victors!” the crowd cheered.

“You have to tell me, which one of you brothers do you plan to model in this games?” Caesar asked. Jean smiled.

“Neither, actually. I want to model myself after our other two victors.” The crowd cheered, and a camera turned to Levi, who was cocking an eyebrow at him. Caesar nodded.  
“Can you explain why?”

“Well, I don’t think that sneaking around and hiding is going to be necessary if Mikasa and I team up. I think we’ll be the team that everyone is hiding from.” The crowd cheered and he saw Levi smile.

“Well, it definitely seems that way. And, if I may, that necklace looks very familiar. It wouldn’t happen to belong to Petra Ral from four years ago, would it?” Jean nodded and Caesar smiled. “Well, we don’t need to ask you if there’s a special young lady waiting for you.” The crowd clapped, but started laughing when Jean turned a bright shade of red and shook his head violently.

“No, no, no, no, no. She’s like a sister to me, not- no, she’s my friend.” Caesar winked and clapped Jean on the shoulder.

“Of course she is.” The buzzer sounded. “And it looks like our time is up! Good luck Jean!” Jean walked back up the stairs and handed Sasha her shoe. 

“Tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, is the beginning of the One-Hundredth Hunger games! Our Tributes need their sleep! So, GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE! AND HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!” the crowd went nuts as the curtains closed and the tributes were directed off of the stage.

Mikasa gave a sigh of relief and took off her shoes the minute she was out of sight of the cameras. “I don’t care if the hem gets dirty; my feet are getting pinched in these.” She informed Rico, who was about to protest.

They walked back to the elevators and would’ve had to stand there for some time, if Marco hadn’t spotted them and caught the doors. They hurried inside and thanked him. Marco’s usually bright smile was dimmed a little bit. 

“The games start tomorrow. That’s a scary prospect.” He said, shaking. “Starting tomorrow, our lives will be in danger and-“ Jean covered Marco’s mouth with his hand.

“Don’t, we’re all stressed enough as is.” He reminded the other boy.

They took the rest of the ride in silence. When they got to the eleventh floor, Mina turned and hugged both Jean and Mikasa.

“Since this is our last chance to be friendly.” She muttered before scurrying away. Marco turned, and hugged, Mikasa and clapped Jean on the shoulder before exiting the elevator. Mikasa was shaking now. Jean put a comforting arm around her and she hugged him. 

They got out on their floor and went to their rooms to bathe.

When they came out, Levi and Hange were sitting at the table. They ate in silence. 

 

After Mikasa and Jean had stuffed themselves full of food, Hange turned to them. “Well, this is the last time that I’ll be able to see you in person for a very long time. Good luck.” Hange said, hugging them both before retreating to her room.

Levi smiled at them both. 

“Go, sleep, I’ll take you to the roof in the morning.”


	9. The Games Begin

Jean woke up early the next morning, lying on a chair were simple white pants and a tank top. He dressed and met Mikasa in the hall; she was dressed in a shift, almost like a nightgown.

“Our clothes will be waiting for us in our rooms.” He explained. She nodded and they walked into the main area.

“Jean, I’m frightened.” She said, turning to him. “I know that I- we, can win, but… still, I have a bad feeling. And, they haven’t given me back my token… They gave you yours back almost immediately, but they’ve still got the muffler my parents gave me.” she said, she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Jean pulled her close. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure your muffler is waiting for you in your room. We’ll fight and survive and we’ll be the ones coming out of that arena.” He said, rubbing her back.

“That’s the way to think, Jean.” Levi said behind him. They turned and smiled at Levi, who was holding a paper package. He held it out.

“Mikasa, this is yours, they brought it in last night.” She snatched the package away and pulled out the red muffler. “It took them a while to approve it; most of the Committee said it would give you an advantage somehow. But they decided that it wasn’t necessary to confiscate it.” Mikasa smiled and wrapped it around her neck.

“C’mon, let’s go.” They walked to the Elevator and stepped inside. Levi pressed the button that would take them to the roof, a few floors up. “Do you two think that you can get into the cornucopia quickly, get what you need, and get out before you can get caught?” Levi asked them.

They both nodded. “Good. Then do it, unless you have doubts at the last second. If you get split up, then try to find each other as soon as possible.” The door opened and they stepped onto the roof, where a hovercraft was floating with the latter down. 

“Mikasa, this one’s for you.” Levi said, pushing her towards the latter. “Yours is right behind it.” He informed Jean as Mikasa walked up to the latter and stepped on it. The latter rose with her on it, and the minute the hatch closed, it left and another one took its place.

“Good luck.” Levi said, pushing Jean towards the craft. “I’ll see you later.”

Jean stepped on the latter the minute it touched the ground. He heard a slight buzzing, and his muscles locked into place as the latter rose into the air. The hatch closed under him and a man with a large syringe stepped forward. “This will sting a little bit.” The man said before sticking the syringe in Jean’s arm, and injecting something into him. 

Once the needle left his arm, the electric current stopped and his muscles unlocked, allowing him to jump away from the latter. 

“Over here sweet heart.” Rico called from behind him. He turned to find her sitting at a table covered with food. He walked over and she piled his plate high.

“Eat. This is probably the most food you’ll get for a little while.” She said, handing him the plate as he sat. He ate everything she put before him.

He’d just finished when the hovercraft came to a stop. “We’re here” the man yelled.

 

They were escorted down long, winding hall that lead to the room where Jean would dress and wait for the Games to start. On the table in the corner of the room sat two large boxes. Rico frowned.

“That’s odd, normally there’s only one.” She opened the larger box. “Well here are your clothes. The material, from what I can tell, is breathable and stretchy.” She placed a pair of beige pants onto the chair and jean started to undress. “This shirt is made of cotton, so I wouldn’t expect it to get to hot, nor to cold.” She tossed a white shirt onto the table. Jean quickly put on the pants and shirt.

“Oh, well, never mind. This jacket is fairly lightweight, but thick.” She tossed it to him, and looked down at it skeptically, it was the same color of the pants, with the number twelve on patches placed on the left chest and the back, but it was also barely long enough to cover his chest.

“I think there was a problem, this must’ve been made for Armin Arlert. It’s too small!” 

Rico glared at him. “Just put it on.” He did as he was told and Rico turned back to the box and pulled out a dark green length of cloth with a large patch in the middle that looked like a larger version of the ones on the jacket. “This is wool, and, yeah, there’s a hood, so it’ll probably get fairly cold and rain a bit.” 

She wrapped it around his shoulders and fastened it, patting his shoulder before going back to the box. “This I don’t know about.” She pulled out a multitude of leather straps.

“That’s for the 3D device!” Jean said, surprised. She nodded and tossed them to him. He put them on as she pulled out brown leather boots.

“These are well made, unless someone goes at them with a sword, they won’t tear.” She put them on the ground in front of him. “Put them on when you’re done.” She said, stuffing thin socks into the top of one.

While he finished putting on and adjusting the straps, she opened the second box and lifted it for him to see.

“I’m going to guess that this is the 3D device” Jean looked up from his sock and nodded. Everything was there. “Right, then I’ll leave that for you. I’ll call up some food for you while you’re finishing up. “

Jean had just attached the last piece of the device when he realized there was something else in the box; he pulled it out and frowned.

“I didn’t think they were supposed to give you weapons before you started the games.” He said, looking over the six blades that were supposed to fit into the slots. 

Rico looked up from her plate and frowned.

“Well, keep them, just in case. If you get stopped then I’ll vouch that they were in the box when we got them.” Jean nodded and slid the blades into their slots, then ate a few rolls.

The time passed slowly. He was about to ask if the Games were canceled, when a female voice told him to step inside the tube. He got up and let out a shaky breath. 

“You’ll be fine, Jean. You’ve got Mikasa.” Rico said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Good luck.” He walked towards the tube and started fiddling with the charm that hung from his neck.

The glass slid closed behind him after he and his gear were clear. He turned and waved as he started moving up.

 

Levi sat next to Erwin in the Mentor’s rooms, watching the screen as the first Tribute rose into the arena. “God, this is the worst part.” He said, watching the screen as the small boy from district Three rose into sight.

“What part? Seeing them all alive for the last time, or the bloodbath?” 

“Both.”

 

Jean thought that it was taking an extraordinarily long time to rise into the arena. But right as he was starting to worry that he’d gotten stuck in that shaft, something opened above him and a dim light filled the chamber. He rose up into what he thought was a forest, but couldn’t be. There was only one root per trunk that held a tribute, all stretching towards the center, and the cornucopia. But those were the only roots he saw, everything else was dirt.

He looked around. Marco was to his immediate right. The boy waved nervously at him, and he nodded back, before scanning for Mikasa.

She was eight trunks to his left. He looked forward as the rest of the tributes rose up. Suddenly one trunk opened and a plume of black smoke burst forward. Jean’s stomach dropped. The girl from- he scanned the remaining twenty two tributes- District Three must have panicked and refused to get in the tube. Which meant that her room imploded, killing her and her stylist.

 

Hannes sighed as he took a seat across from Erwin. “I knew she was scared, but I didn’t realize she wouldn’t even go through the games.” He said. Levi shrugged.

“I think it happens for everyone. You’ll eventually get the one that panics.”

 

The remaining tributes prepared themselves to make the run, either to the cornucopia or away from it. 

Suddenly a voice boomed from somewhere in the arena.

“Welcome, to the One-Hundredth Hunger Games!” Caesar Flickerman’s voice echoed. He was sure that the capitol was applauding.

 

Back home in District Twelve, Petra had invited Mikasa’s parents over to her home. Her mother sobbed when the camera rested on Mikasa for a moment.

“She’ll be fine. Jean will help take care of her, and I’m sure she’s more than capable on her own.” Petra said, trying to comfort the older woman.

“But she’s still in danger!” He mother insisted. Petra shrugged.

“It doesn’t do well to dwell on the bad things that could happen. Focus on the fact that she’s got a higher chance to come home than anyone in the history of the games.” Mikasa’s parents nodded and returned their attention to the image.

 

“Now, I have a short announcement to make.” Caesar said. Jean frowned at the sky, along with all of the other tributes. “You see, the Game- Makers thought that having two victors wasn’t good enough for the Fourth Quarter Quell. So, they decided to bring in something extra to the games…” the trunks started to shake and cracks appeared in the dirt, which started to shimmy off as the metal retracted into the trees.

 

Levi bolted upright in his seat. “No, please don’t let that be it, they don’t know… Please no…” Erwin leaned forward.

“Levi, what’s wrong?” But all he got was Levi muttering no over and over.

 

The rest of Panem was also on the edge of their seats as they looked at the confused faces of the Tributes.

 

Jean was trying to catch Mikasa’s eyes, but she was focusing on the crack in front of her, which was the widest. Her eyes widened, fear was etched into every line on her face as she screamed. So Jean looked down to, and saw, through the widening cracks, large naked bodies topped with large, smiling heads. 

“The Tributes don’t have to worry about just each other this year.” The rest of the tributes started screaming as well, having seen over the metal that had now almost fully retracted into the trees. “They have to avoid the Titans!” 

Jean was trying not to pass out from fear.

 

Levi had stood straight up, a terrified expression on his face as he relived the horror of the Mutations. Hannes and Erwin were trying to comfort him and get him to sit back down.

 

Mikasa’s mother had already fainted and was lying on the floor, her husband trying to wake her up. Petra’s heart had sunk into her stomach.

 

A loud ticking sounded throughout the arena, and Jean made himself get ready to sprint across the narrow tree branch. 

“LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” Caesar shouted, and the gong rang out.


	10. Alliance

Jean sprinted down the limb, focusing on the objects placed on that limb, and not the eager faces of the Titans beneath him. He snatched up what he assumed to be a sleeping bag and tucked it under his arm before taking one of the headpieces and jamming it onto a blade. He snatched up a large bag that one of the other tributes using the devices, had barely missed.

He made it to the heart of the cornucopia just after Mikasa. They snatched up extra blades and a few bags of food before turning and running back down Jean’s branch. But Annie Leonhart landed in front of them, blades drawn. So, with a split second’s decision, they used their devices to fly over her head and they quickly zipped into the trees. 

After they’d been flying for about thirty minutes, Jean motioned for them to stop on top of one of the huge branches. They landed lightly and carefully sat down on the branches, making sure to steady themselves with the claws and wires.

“I can’t believe we pulled that off.” Jean said with a relieved laugh. Mikasa nodded and carefully placed her treasures on the branch in front of her. She then turned and leaned over the side of the tree and vomited. 

Jean laid out what he’d snatched while she finished. “Nerves get to you?” he asked. She nodded and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

“I had to push that boy from Four off of my branch. The Titans got him and ripped him apart, that’s why it took so long for me to get to the Cornucopia.” She said in a small voice. Jean rubbed her shoulder. 

“It’ll be…” he stopped, because he thought he heard the sounds of a 3D device coming their way. He detached his wires and stood, drawing two blades out as he saw a flash of beige and green fly their way. The figure came closer, and Jean crouched, ready to fight, but the figure pulled up short a tree away and waved.

“Jean! Mikasa! You’re alright!”

“Marco?” Jean yelled the boy nodded and zipped onto the branch next to them.

“It’s hell over there. That girl from Four flew to low and got snatched by the Titans. I was hiding in the leaves and had to watch it tear into her.” Marco shuddered. “And, of course, the boys from one and two were being ruthless. I think I saw Eren sneak past them but I doubt he got by them on the way out.”

Mikasa and Jean nodded. “He was always too much of a risk taker.” Mikasa said, shoving what they’d found into their bags. “Did you come looking for us?”

Marco nodded. “I figured I stand a pretty good chance of living for a few days if I stick with you two. Plus, we’re friends, and friends look out for each other.” H smiled at them. And Jean smiled back.

“Yeah. Sure, what the hell.” He looked to Mikasa for conformation.

“Alright, but remember, If I have to kill you so that I can go home, I will.” 

Marco smiled brightly. “Awesome. So, if Mina finds us, can she join? Cause I actually think I see her coming.” Jean and Mikasa nodded. The girl stood, both packs filled. She handed the larger one to Jean and they turned to watch Mina draw closer.

“She’s going pretty low, I hope there are no Titans nearby, they’ll be able to-“

A hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Mina, who started screaming, Mikasa and Jean hopped onto Marco’s branch and they all ran to the end. 

Mina was screaming and struggling in the hands of a particularly tall Titan. He put her into his mouth and chomped down. They heard no more screams as it swallowed and shoved the other half in his stomach.

 

They moved as far away from the Cornucopia as they could, trying to get the image of Mina out of their minds.

They hid in a leafy branch that Marco guessed was about forty meters in the air. If they pulled their hoods over their heads, nobody would be able to see them for all the leaves.

The canons didn’t ring out until after they’d gotten settled.

There were only seven blasts. That had to be a record, for so few Tributes to have died on the first day. 

“The smart ones must’ve gotten away early.” Marco muttered sleepily. He was leaning against Jean’s back. 

Mikasa started to nod off in front of him. “You two rest, I’ll take first watch.” He said. They both nodded and locked themselves in place. 

They’d been asleep for a few hours when he heard the sound of 3D devices whooshing through the darkness. He silently attached one of his blades and waited, ready to kill them if they tried to attack. But they stopped two trees in front of them. Jean stuck the blade back in its slot and kept listening in the dark.

An hour after the arrival of the other two tributes, the Capitol’s fanfare sounded. Marco and Mikasa started awake and they all looked to the sky, through all the leaves they could still make out the pictures of the dead tributes showing in the sky. Starting with the little girl from District Three, both from Four, both boys from Five and Six, the girl from Nine, and then Mina. The fanfare played again and the sky darkened once more.

“Seven down and fifteen to go.” Mikasa said before nudging Jean’s foot. “You sleep, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

He obeyed. 

 

The next morning Mikasa quietly woke him and Marco then jerked her head in the direction of the Tributes in the tree across from them. They were talking loudly enough to draw attention to this part of the forest if Annie was awake. She shouldered her pack and drew out her swords.

Jean and Marco followed suit and quick as lightning they all zipped over, grabbed the two boys and threw them into the trunk, swords at the ready.

But they quickly realized that the boy that had burst into tears was Armin and the other one was Eren.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! DON’T YOU DARE-“ Mikasa flew over to Eren and shoved a wad of his cloak in his mouth.

“How stupid are you?” she hissed. “If the careers heard you they’d be here as quickly as possible.” She whacked him on the head and walked off.

“And stop crying, Armin. If I was going to kill you I’d have done it already.” She informed the sobbing boy.

“Please let us come with you!” Armin begged. “We’ll be dead before the day is out!”

Mikasa looked to Marco and Jean. “Your call.” Jean looked behind him to the nest the boys had made. They had a sheet of plastic, an axe, and a half eaten loaf of bread.

“They don’t have much in the way of supplies. Rationing whatever we have among the three of us will be hard enough. Then there’s always them to think about.” He pointed below them, where Titans were starting to migrate. “With so many of us grouped together, they’ll come and group like this. If the careers come looking, it won’t take long for them to figure out where we’re hiding.” Marco shrugged.

“I don’t know, Armin’s good with snares. He can catch us some food.”

“How?” Mikasa asked. “That requires getting on the ground. I saw a recap of Levi’s games a couple nights ago, if we get on the ground, we’re Titan fodder. It takes a while to clean a catch after it’s out of the trap. I’m not even quick enough to clean it before a Titan finds me.”

Armin had burst into tears again. Eren, however was just glaring at them.

“Fine! Go! We don’t need you anyway!”

“We do need them, Eren!” Armin insisted. Marco gave Jean a pleading look.

“Fine, but if you can’t carry your own weight we’re going to leave you.” Jean said, giving into the brown puppy-dog eyes. Armin smiled and thanked them profusely.

“But if you two can’t keep it down we’ll leave too.” Mikasa added. “I don’t want to wake up cause your snores brought someone over to us.”

 

They flew to what they figured was a relatively safe place, and split up, Eren and Armin staying in a tree a Titan’s length away from the tree where Marco, Mikasa, and Jean crouched in. Marco had managed to grab a crossbow and bolts that almost got knocked off the platform before he flew off, so he lay on his stomach, a bolt knocked, and watched for anything big enough to eat. Jean and Mikasa crouched beside him, blades out.

“So, you think they could be useful?” Mikasa whispered. 

“Yeah, they could be. I mean, Armin’s a genius. And Eren’s a hell of a fighter.” Marco said, watching as a deer passed underneath, but judged it to be too small and let it go.

“Genious doesn’t do much good in a situation like this, and Eren’s reckless.” Jean pointed out. “they’d mostly be good for decoys, we could push them towards the Careers, and while they’re busy killing them, we could make our escape.” Mikasa nodded.

“Then let’s keep them, if only to use as decoys." She said. Jean remembered she once talked about him like that and shivered. Marco’s bow twanged.

“Got it.” He said. “Be right back.” They watched as he made his way down to the deer, and started to pick it up. 

“Uh, oh.” Mikasa muttered. Jean looked in the direction of her gaze and hissed. A Titan was walking quickly towards Marco and his catch. 

“Be right back.” He said before jumping off the branch. He heard Mikasa call for him to come back, but he ignored her and flew to Marco. The boy looked up, surprised. 

“What’s wrong?” Jean pointed and started to shoulder the heavy deer. Marco helped get it onto his shoulders. And got the headpieces into Jeans hand.

“Go, I got this.” Jean said and Marco zoomed off, followed by Jean. But the deer was weighing him down and making him slower. 

“JEAN LOOKOUT!” Mikasa screamed, Jean put a short burst of gas into his next swing and felt the Titan’s fingers pass just under his boots as he passed out of range. His heart was beating faster than he thought possible as he landed on their branch.

“Thank you.” Marco said as Jean lowered the deer to the branch. “You saved my life. I would’ve gotten eaten if you hadn’t come to help.”

“Don’t mention it.” Jean mumbled. 

Mikasa motioned for the other boys to come over and used their plastic to store the cleaned and cut deer. “We’ll have to make camp just at dusk.” She told the boys. “That in-between time is the only time we’ll have to cook this meat.” They nodded as she stuffed the deer into her bag.

With that they left the branch and went flying through the branches once more. 

 

After they’d been moving for a while, Marco motioned for them to stop. When they’d all landed, he leaned towards them.

“We’re getting near the Cornucopia. If we go around then we can avoid them.” He whispered to the group. Jean nodded but Mikasa shook her head.

“No, right now they’ll be prowling around for other tributes. They might have a couple guards at the mouth, but that’ll be it. I say that we sneak over there and grab more food and weapons.” She whispered. 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Armin said shakily.

“Alright, well, you boys will be on look out. I’ll call for you when I’m ready for you to get your load.” She said. Eren tried to protest. “That’s how it’ll be or you don’t get any of our food.” Mikasa said in a threatening voice. Eren agreed and they went as silently as they could towards the Cornucopia. She stopped them on a branch just out of sight of the two girls sitting guard.

She turned the boys in different directions before she hopped onto the pedestal in front of her. Jean watched the area in front of him, but also watched Mikasa out of the corner of his eye.

She sneaked along the branch towards the girls. She came silently up behind the girls, grabbed a couple of knives off of the wall, and quickly stabbed them in the back. The girls slumped forward and fell off the platform into the waiting hands of the Titans.

Two cannons sounded and Jean focused completely on the area in front of him. If anything would warn the Careers, it would be the canons when they hadn’t made a kill. 

Mikasa darted around the storage area, shoving various things into a bag. After a moment she ducked out and yelled “Armin!” before going back inside and collecting as much as possible. Armin zipped over, grabbed his pack, shouldered it, and took his place next to Jean as Mikasa placed another bag on the platform and yelled for Eren.

They sat and waited for a few moments before she called for Marco. They saw nothing of the Careers. Marco shouldered his pack as Mikasa filled a bag with extra bolts for the crossbow and more detachable blades.

Mikasa and Marco zipped back to the branch and Mikasa tied the bag to Jean’s pack.

“Alright, let’s go.” She said, but Let’s fly as high as possible. I don’t want to be seen by anyone else.


	11. To The Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda starts the majority of the up close deaths. I don't know if you will consider the deaths graphic or not, but please understand this is my first time writing deaths, so they may come out laughably incorrect, but please stick with me. Thanks. 
> 
> (Also, I'm writing this on Word and transferring it, so there may be some misspellings or grammatical errors that the program missed.)

They passed over the Careers as they were headed back to the cornucopia. They weren’t noticed at all, but they all held their breaths as the passed, hoping they wouldn’t look behind just in time to see Ymir ready to slit their throats open.

They made camp and Marco started a fire using the looser twigs on their branches. They cooked the meat as quickly as possible and stomped out the fire right as their window was closing.

They knew when the Careers had made it back to their camp when they heard a ton of shouting and screaming echoing through the forest.

Marco sat next to Jean, leaning against the trunk and smiling. “We’ve dealt them a blow at the beginning of the games. How awesome is that?” he said in a hushed town. 

“I didn’t think about it that way. I guess it is pretty cool. Unless, of course, they find us and take their things back.” 

They watched Mikasa walk over to Eren and Armin, and speak to them in low tones. “Yeah, but still. They won’t know it was us. The girls are gone and can’t tell them that Mikasa did it, even if they could. She was so quiet and fast.” Marco said in an awed tone.

“Yeah, well, if they changed the rules overnight, we’d never know cause she’d kill us in our sleep.” Jean muttered. “As it is, you should be one of the last people to be speaking her praise. She won’t kill me unless she has to, but I’m pretty sure she would kill you in a heartbeat.” 

Marco smiled at him. “Well, at least I’d go quick.”

Jean chuckled. “You’re way to optimistic.” He informed the boy. Mikasa walked up to them.

“You both need to sleep. I’ll wake on of you up and switch with you.” She said, her eyes scanning the horizon. “We leave before the sun rises. I don’t want to be nearby when the careers deem it safe to leave their camp.” She said, before spinning around and taking a place in the middle of the branch.

“Whether she shoves a knife in out chest or wakes us up early every day, that girl will still be the death of us.” Marco joked before laying his head on Jean’s shoulder.

“I quite agree with you.”

 

Levi sighed as he watched the screen with Jean and Mikasa. “Well, of all people, I’d never have thought that Mikasa would make an alliance with that little blond boy.” He said.

“I think everyone was surprised.” Hannes said. “Whether it was because they’d made the alliance or because Armin made to the third day.”

All of the Mentors sat around and watched the multitude of screens. It was quiet, as it was supposed to be at this time of day. The night had fallen and it had started to rain. Levi smiled as he watched Mikasa look up as the rain fell harder, and shot the sky a bird before pulling her hood up over her head and adjusting her muffler so that it covered the bottom portion of her face.

A couple hours into the night, a bright light burst forth from one of the screens, drawing the attention of all of the mentors. The fire had started inside the Cornucopia, illuminating a handful of kids. A handful of kids lay huddled in the corner, sleeping. But Annie Leonhart was pulling things off of the wall, while two boys and two girls huddled around the fire.

“Hannah made an alliance with the Careers?” Erwin mused aloud, watching the small red head. He turned up the volume as Annie turned around towards the fire and the other three kids and started handing them what looked like sunglasses.

“They’ll be asleep by now.” She informed the kids. “I don’t think they’ll have anyone on watch, not with the weather like it is. You three find them. I don’t care if you kill everyone there, or just the kids from Twelve, but make sure you kill the ones from Twelve. If they’re alive, then nobody else will even stand a chance of winning. Gank them in their sleep and come back here. We might let you live a little longer if you get them all.”

They all nodded and put on the glasses, filing out of the horn one by one. Annie stayed next to the fire, watching them leave.

“Well shit.” Erwin muttered. “They’ve got those night vision glasses; they’ll have quite an advantage.” Levi nodded, and looked back to the screen with his kids.

Mikasa sat cross legged on the branch, her eyes closed.

“Don’t tell me the girl fell asleep!” Levi said, exasperated. “You’re better than that, Mikasa.”

 

A canon boomed in the arena, making all four of the boys jump awake. Jean glanced around, he could see the outline of Eren and Armin, and could feel Marco beside him.

“Mikasa? He called, “Mikasa?” he looked all around and couldn’t find her. All of the boys jumped up and drew out their weapons? “Mikasa are you there?” he yelled. A loud thump sounded in front of him and he felt a small hand slap the side of his head.

“You’ll draw their attention, dumbass.” She said. “They sent a scout ahead; they’re trying to find us. I’d say we should leave, but since we can’t see much then we’re pretty much asking for our own deaths.” She shoved something into his chest.

“He was wearing these when I caught him. But I’ve no clue what they are.” Jean felt over the object and frowned. 

“They feel like sunglasses. They wouldn’t do him much good.” Marco snatched the glasses out of his hands. After a moment, he sighed in awe.

“Oh my god. These are night glasses; we used them back home to bring in the harvest at night. Mikasa, you need to wear these, you’ll be able to see the coming.” He said before taking them off and holding them out in her direction. She reached out for them and took them gently from his hands.

“Not going to do us much good if they all come at us at once since there’s only the one. But I wouldn’t suggest falling asleep again. Keep your weapons out, just in case.” She said before walking off and filling the other two boys in.

“They must have had tons of those in the Cornucopia, but she must’ve thought they were just sunglasses and disregarded them. It’s a shame, we could’ve used them.” Marco muttered, knocking a bolt into his crossbow.

“Yeah, well, we didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to come at us in the middle of the night, with the rain pouring down.” Jean reminded him. 

“JEAN!” Mikasa screamed from the other side of the branch as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm and was tackled down. His head hit the tree, he felt Marco collapse beside him, along with his yell as he fell off the branch.

“Got you now.” A gruff voice said above him. Jean struggled under the weight of the first boy. He could feel the sharp exhales of breath on his cheek as the boy on top of him tried to yank the knife out of his arm. Jean reached up with his free hand and felt around the boy’s face, yelling triumphantly as he snatched the glasses off of the boy and shoved them onto his own head. 

It was as if he was looking at the boy in broad daylight. He brought his fist back and socked the boy in the jaw. He rolled off of him and Jean stood, taking in the long serrated knife that was stuck in his right bicep. 

He shuddered as he thought about removing it, but turned back to the large boy that was fumbling around, now blind.

Jean drew out one of the blades and slashed right as the boy moved, cutting into his stomach and intestines. The boy cried out in pain, right as Mikasa screamed behind him. He wanted to look and help, but he couldn’t have this boy coming up behind him. He slashed once more, and managed to cut the boy’s head off, the head and body tumbled off of the branch as another canon rang out.

 

Levi watched the screen, his face pale; Mikasa was pinned down by the girl from District Seven, and had the girl’s full weight on her arms and chest. Jean spun around, trying to decide to help Marco or Mikasa. Marco was hanging from his 3D device, holding his crossbow in one hand and his head in the other. He’d hit his head as he fell off the branch.

He saw Annie smile in the Cornucopia, thinking that the two Canons signaled Jean and Mikasa’s deaths. She nudged Reiner awake and motioned for him to take up a sword. It looked like their plan had been to surprise the returning tributes upon their arrival.

His eyes flickered back to the screen where Jean was running down the branch to where the girl had pulled a knife out of her belt and was raising it to kill Mikasa.

 

Lightning flashed as Jean dashed down the branch, illuminating the scene for a split second to the eyes of the other two boys. 

He heard Eren yell and looked up to see the boy charging the girl, his axe raised, ready to attack.

“EREN STOP!” Jean yelled, but the boy brought the axe down and around, catching the girl right in the jaw, Jean watched, horrified as the axe cut her head open, getting stuck half-way through her skull. Mikasa flinched as the blood poured onto her face.

Eren yanked the girl off Mikasa and the Canon boomed once more, signaling her death. Mikasa made him stop pulling and snatched the glasses off of the girl’s face before allowing Eren to continue yanking.

“Jean, there’s a knife in your arm.”

“It can wait.” He growled as he passed by her. “What do you think you were doing?” he yelled at Eren. Who had just succeeded in removing the axe from the girl’s head. Jean tried to ignore the blood, and what looked like brains, leaking out as Eren turned to him.

“I was killing a girl I grew up with to save Mikasa’s freaking life!” He yelled back.

“You could’ve killed her too!” he yelled, waving with his bad arm at Mikasa, who was running down to help Marco up onto the branch. “You’re going to be the death of us all! You and your carelessness!”

“Well, you know what? She would’ve been dead whether it had been me or Hannah!” 

“Jean! We need to go!” she yelled down the branch. Marco stood next to her, slipping the glasses onto his face.

“W-wait, we can see!” Armin called. “How’re we supposed to go anywhere?” 

Jean glared at Eren. “You aren’t you’re both staying right- AHH!” he’d moved his right arm to fast. The knife was still in it, and cut his arm more, along with cutting an area of his side open.

Mikasa and Marco sprinted to his side. “We need to get this knife out.” Mikasa muttered, grabbing hold of the hilt. Jean tried to tell her not to, but she yanked hard on the knife and the whole thing ripped out of his arm, making him cry out in pain.

They made Jean sit while Marco shuffled through his bag and brought out the sleeping bag that Jean had grabbed at the beginning of the games, and ripped it into pieces. They made padding as Jean watched the blood stream down his arm. They stuffed some of the cloth into the wound, then wrapped and tied more around it.

They said something to him, but there was a loud buzzing in his ears. Mikasa knelt down in front of him, and shouted at him, but he couldn’t hear. He noticed that she had a panicked expression on her face right before the entire world turned black.

 

Levi watched as Jean pitched to the side and Marco caught him. He thought that they would either leave him behind or stay on the branch; instead, Marco managed to haul Jean onto his shoulders. Mikasa gave the night glasses to Eren, who lifted Armin onto his back. They moved as far as Marco could handle before he yelled for them to stop, and they found a very high branch to wait on. They tended to Jean’s wound as best they could, making Armin stand watch and having Eren rest. They told him it was because he’d carried Armin and two loads of goods all this way, and the kid bought it. But everyone else knew that he wouldn’t get them into any trouble while he slept.

“If you will excuse me.” Levi said, standing. “I have to go talk to someone.” And he turned and walked quickly out of the room.


	12. The Calm Before The Storm

Mikasa and Marco made a small shelter made of sawed off branches, wire, and a tarp, and tied Jean underneath it so that he wouldn’t slide or roll off. They cleaned the wound as best they could and had to change the bandages multiple times before daylight rose.

“God, all this blood…” Mikasa whispered. “We’re gonna lose him soon.” She said before crawling out from under the shelter and into the rain. She shivered as the rain soaked into her shirt. They were using their cloaks and jackets as blankets for Jean. 

The sky started to lighten as she stood in the rain. 

“We won’t lose him.” Marco called out to her. She turned and saw that he was now kneeling beside Jean. “We won’t let him die.” He said firmly.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have the supplies to fix him, and there’s no way he can make it through the day with that cut, let alone the games. Not with half of a sleeping bag left.” a clear ringing noise sounded above her, and she looked up to find a package attached to a parachute floating down to her. She reached out and caught it, hardly daring to hope. She dashed inside the shelter and undid the ties on the oilskin that was wrapped around it. 

She and Marco held their breaths as she took the box out of the skin and opened it. 

Inside was an advanced first aid kit, complete with needles to stich the skin, loads of bandages, alcohol to clean the wounds, among other things that they might need later on in the games. Marco laughed.

“See Mikasa? I told you we wouldn’t lose him.” He said, practically giggling as he took the kit and laid it on Jean’s stomach. “I can take it from here, my mother’s one of the healers n out community.” He said, motioning for her to leave. Mikasa ran out into the rain, smiling. She looked to the sky and threw open her arms. 

“Levi, I could kiss you right now!” she called to the sky.

 

Levi smiled and watched Mikasa twirl around, giggling.

 

Jean woke up a few hours later, still feeling drained. He tried to sit up but found he couldn’t move. “Oh god.” He moaned. “I’m paralyzed.”

“No you’re not.” Said a cheerful voice to his left. He turned and saw Marco sitting next to him. “We’ve just got you secured to the tree. Didn’t want you to go rolling off to become Titan feed.” He smiled brightly at Jean.

“How bad is my arm?” Jean asked. Marco smiled even wider.

“It’s not bad now, I mean, you still lost a ton of blood, but thanks to your Mentor, we were able to fix you up before you lost to much.”

Jean smiled. “Didn’t realize he liked me that much.”

Mikasa ducked her head inside the shelter and smiled at Jean. “Hey, you’re awake! Do you think you can eat or drink?” she asked. 

“I dunno.” He replied. “I might need help but I can try.” 

Mikasa nodded and walked off. Marco untied Jean and helped him sit up.

“Don’t overexert your right arm. The muscle could tear more.” Marco said patiently. 

When Mikasa returned with water and deer meat, she found Jean leaning against Marco. “Alright, here you are. Eat and drink slowly.” 

 

Levi smiled and took a sip of tea. “Jean’s awake.” He informed Erwin, who had come up behind him. 

“Congratulations. Both of your tributes are still in the game. I, however, just came from the morgue where they are trying to make poor Hannah look presentable.” Erwin took a seat and sighed. “I never thought I’d see the day where a tribute turned on a kid from their own district.” 

“That was odd. And I’m sure that, were he to return home, nobody would welcome him warmly.” Levi tilted his head to the screen showing Marco and Jean. Marco had the leaf filled with meat in his lap and was giving it, piece by piece, to Jean, who’s head was resting against his shoulder. “Do you think we’re missing something?”

“According to the Capitol we are.” He handed a newspaper to Levi. 

A large color picture of Jean, Marco, and Mikasa in the training center was on the front page, along with the large black words, “Possible Tribute Love Triangle?” Levi snorted.

“They see what they want just to add more drama to the games, don’t they?” Erwin nodded.

“Well, you can’t say they didn’t analyze their behaviors though. They said that, with the way that Jean and Marco treated each other, chatting and joking and pairing up, implied that there were feelings there.”

“They’d known each other for a couple days, how is that possible?”

“Oh, there’s more. They also pulled in the hand holding in the parade, claiming that there must have been an existing relationship between the two tributes from Twelve before the reaping occurred. Then of course they stuck together throughout the training.”

“Like they were going to do something else?”

“Of course, whenever the interviews came around, they pointed out the hug, saying that the two were happy that they wouldn’t have to live without the other should they win. And Marco blushed whenever he was asked about having a girl back home; the press is insinuating that he was going to say that he had feelings for Jean.” Erwin took a sip of water and Levi laughed.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“And that’s not the end of it.” Erwin said with a grin. “They say that the reason that Mikasa allowed the alliance with Marco was because she knew Jean had feeling for him. The events of last night and this morning only stoked the fires.” 

They watched the tributes for a moment longer. “Well, maybe I can play it off.” Levi said with a grunt. 

 

Jean fell asleep leaning against Marco, leaving Mikasa to keep watch with Armin and Eren. Marco’s arm fell asleep, but he didn’t seem to care, there was no need for him to do anything. Marco watched Mikasa as she padded to the edge of the large limb and looked over the side, down to the titans.

“How many are there?” he asked. She shrugged.

“At least ten of the really tall ones, if there are any besides them, they’re hidden.” She shivered violently. “These things creep me out.” The boys nodded their agreement.

Marco noticed that she continued to shiver, and it was no small wonder, she was soaked. “Mikasa, why don’t you come sit with Jean for a bit? You’ll catch a cold if you stay out in the rain much longer.” She nodded gratefully and hurried into the shelter. Marco set Jean down on the branch and found an extra sleeping bag among the supplies and wrapped it around her before she sat next to Jean. She muttered her thanks and moved Jean so that his head rested on her leg. Marco took his jacket and cloak off of Jean’s legs and put them back on before he went out to stand watch.

He sent Armin in as well, because the wind seemed to be getting to the small boy.

Jean started awake, a canon had sounded. “Wha- what’ve I missed?” he asked. Thunder rumbled and the rain poured down.

“Well, we think you slept for a day, we’re not sure.” Mikasa said. He looked around, everyone was huddled inside the small shelter, and plastic covered the remaining walls, except for a small section that let the smoke from the fire out. “It started to get bad so we all came in here.”

“Someone probably tried to move around in the weather.” Marco said, from the opposite side of the fire. “We haven’t left for a while, and that was the first time we’ve heard a single thing. Jean nodded.

“You might as well go back to sleep, we won’t be able to do a damn thing until the weather clears up.” 

 

Levi kicked Hannes awake. “You’re slacking on your job.” He said in a disapproving tone. Hannes looked back to the screens and frowned.

“It’s still pouring, what could I possibly do for him?” he asked. Levi pointed to the screen depicting the cornucopia. The kids were patching each other up after a very unsuccessful trip into the forest. 

“The rain is letting up.” he said. “It has been for the past hour. Mikasa has noticed and is probably getting ready to have them all head out. Be ready for when that happens.” He walked towards the door.

“Then why are you leaving?” Hannes yelled.

“Because I haven’t showered since Jean got stabbed, I’m filthy.”

 

Mikasa shook Jean awake. “Come on, it’s stopped raining and we need to move.” He nodded and Marco helped him to his feet. Armin held out his pack and helped him adjust it onto his shoulders. 

They left the shelter up and the fire going as a decoy for the Careers before flying off into a remote part of the forest.

“How far into the games are we?” he asked. 

“About a week.” Marco answered. “I think the Game- Makers cut the storm short because it only caused one death. The Capitol probably protested for it to end so that they could get some action.

“We need to hunt.” Mikasa said, turning to Marco. “We’re low on food.” He and Jean both frowned.

“How can that be possible? We had enough to last us for a while.”

“Eren went on a binge last night while the rest of us were asleep.” She said bitterly. The other three boys shot Eren deadly glares.

Marco stopped them when they got to a tree on the edge of a clearing. He took his crossbow out and readied it before lying down on his stomach. Jean sat down next to Marco and watched the trees around them.

“How’s your arm?” Marco asked. 

“Fine, thanks. You did a great job.” He said, smiling down at Marco.

“Thank you. I learned from my mother. She was the healer for our part of District Eleven. When she thought I was old enough she taught me how to stich a cut.” Marco said proudly. 

“We’ve got a problem.” Mikasa hissed, pointing to a tree on the opposite end of the valley. Jean looked and made out a dark figure, sitting next to a smaller pale figure. “Ymir and Annie. They’re stalking us.” 

Of course, over the next few minutes, the whole stalking thing was proved wrong. The two seemed to set up camp and fall asleep. 

Marco finally landed a deer and they all went to the ground to help clean it. 

They took off their packs and were cutting the deer into manageable sizes when they heard blades coming slinging out of their sheaths. Mikasa, who was quicker than lightning, had already drawn her blades by the time Ymir told them not to move. Their heads turned and they were surprised to see that the small blond wasn’t Annie, but Krista, the girl from District Eight.

“Step away from the meat.” Ymir ordered. They stood, but didn’t back away. “You heard me, step away.” Ymir snarled, making Krista jump.

“No.” Mikasa said firmly. “We brought it down, and if you want it, you’ll have to fight us for it.” 

“C’mon, Ymir.” A voice said of to their left, they all turned, surprised to see Sasha holding a compound bow with an arrow knocked and pointed at Mikasa. “Let’s you and me take them down. You remember what Annie said, once they’re out of the way, we’ll all stand a chance of winning.”

“We just want the meat, Sasha.” Krista said. “That’s all. We don’t want to kill them.”

“We’ll leave that to Annie and Reiner.” Ymir said, making eye contact with Mikasa, trying to convey that they really meant no harm.

“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re here.” A boy said from their right. This time the boys took out their weapons, pointing them at the three Careers that were walking towards them.

 

All of Panem leaned forward. It had been ages since that many tributes had been seen in one area at the same time. Twenty-five years, in fact. 

The Capitol was a buzz; everything was dropped as they crowded to the televisions.

Even the remaining Mentors moved closer to the screens. Levi frowned, watching his tributes. Mikasa, as always, was calculating their odds. Jean seemed to be moving forward, as if to shield his friends from the Careers. It would probably be seen as him protecting his lovers by the Capitol’s citizens.

 

Annie approached, wearing a smile that nearly made Armin wet himself. 

“Well done finding them, you two. We were ready to kill you, but are so glad that they are here that, if you run now, we’ll let you live a little longer.” 

Ymir and Krista shifted. “Only if we can keep the meat.” She said. Jean thought she was nuts. Her life for some meat? If she left now she could sneak just enough from the Cornucopia to feed the two of them for a couple of days.

“No, sorry. We’re out of food.” Reiner grunted, glaring at the large group. Mikasa flashed him a smile.

“Now.” Annie sighed. “I’m going to give you four an option.” She gestured to Marco, Eren, Armin, and Sasha.

“You can run now. At the moment, our beef is with Twelve. You three could have another day before we went looking for you.” Sasha immediately darted away from the circle, running faster than was necessary.

Eren and Armin ducked their heads together while Marco moved forward and pointed his crossbow at Annie. “I’m with them. And if you try to get close, you’ll each have…” They all stared at him, expectantly. But his gaze seemed to have wandered to a point above Reiner’s head.

“What are you staring at?” Jean said, following his gaze and freezing. Everyone else looked, and watched as a large, bearded Titan walked towards them.


	13. Mourning

Ymir was the first to come to her sense. She grabbed Krista by the scruff of her neck and threw her forward. “RUN!” she screamed, which shocked everyone else into action. The Careers sprinted past Jean and Marco, who had just turned and ran around Eren and Armin.

“LEAVE THE BAGS!” Mikasa screamed, tugging Eren away from the bags, and pulling a still stunned Armin behind her.

“But our food!” Eren insisted. 

“IT’S NOT WORTH IT!” Jean and Mikasa yelled in unison. Eren soon joined them as they ran from the quickly gaining Titan. They had to get back into the forest before they stood a chance. Jean looked back when he realized that Mikasa wasn’t leading the way.

She was pulling on Armin, trying to keep him up to pace.  
“MIKASA! IF YOU WANT TO GET HOME LEAVE HIM BEHIND!” Jean yelled. He hated to say it, he liked Armin, but if Mikasa kept pace with Armin, they’d both be dead. Armin motioned for her to leave him and she put on a burst of speed, quickly over coming Jean.

Jean, Mikasa, and Marco all heaved a sigh of relief once they reached the forest and got into the air. Once they got out of the Titan’s reach, they stopped on a branch and turned to keep an eye on Eren and Armin. Eren made it to the safety of the trees and zipped up, screaming for Armin to hurry up. Armin made it to the forest right before the Titan did. He almost made it to safety when the Titan pinched his cloak between his fingers. 

Mikasa and Armin screamed, causing Eren to turn as the Titan brought Armin to his mouth. Jean and Eren zipped towards the Titan, but when it let go, and Armin started to fall down its mouth, Jean knew that he was a goner. Until Eren flew into its mouth, propping the jaw open with his hand and leg, and grabbed Armin. 

Jean landed on a branch nearby. “Eren! Throw him over here!” he yelled, Eren obeyed, hauling the smaller boy out of the Titan’s mouth and tossing him into Jean’s arms. Jean reached out for Eren’s hand, and Eren reached towards him, the stretched towards each other and managed to clasp hands.

Jean started to pull when he saw a flash of white and was sent stumbling backwards when he got hit with a huge blast of air. He looked to his hand, wondering why Eren was still holding his hand and cried out, dropping the disembodied forearm. He looked up ad at the titan, who was now swallowing Eren, and a canon echoed. Armin screamed, drawing the Titan’s attention. Jean turned and ran towards the boy and the other side of the branch. He hauled Armin over his shoulder and zipped away, just barely getting out of the Titan’s reach in time.

He brought the weeping boy back to Marco and Mikasa. Mikasa ran over the minute Jean set the boy down and drew him into her arms to comfort him.

 

Erwin gave a heavy sigh. “One tribute that got her face cracked open, and one that lost part of his arm…”

“Didn’t that happen in your Games?” Levi asked, watching Mikasa stroke Armin’s back. Erwin thought it over as he stood.

“Yes, now that you mention it. Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have to go take care of sending his body home.”

“Armin will be next.” Hannes grunted. “Those kids won’t be able to protect him forever.” Levi nodded.

“They’ll do their damndest though.”

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Mikasa repeated soothingly. She didn’t seem to mind that Armin was covered in Titan drool. Jean walked over to Marco.

“I didn’t like Eren, but he didn’t deserve to be eaten by a Titan.” He whispered. “And I almost saved him, just two seconds more and he would have been safe.” Marco slung an arm over Jean’s shoulders.

“Jean, there was no way that you could’ve saved him. No matter how soon you could’ve pulled him out, he would’ve lost an arm, a foot, or maybe even his entire leg. We wouldn’t have been able to save him. And this way was quicker than bleeding to death.” Marco gave him a one-armed hug. “I agree that wasn’t the best way to go, but only two of us have a chance to die of old age, so the rest of us just have to hope it’s quick.”

 

They made camp in that tree, Armin was too shocked to do anything but sit down and attach himself to the tree. Jean had over exerted his arm carrying Armin, and Marco told him to rest. 

“Mikasa, you too.” He said, turning to the girl. She looked at him questioningly. “You heard me, rest. You’ve been taking watches every day since we got here. It’s time that you get a full night’s sleep.” She grudgingly obeyed and sat down on Jean’s left side. He noticed that her bright eyes sat atop dark shadows. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close after he’d secured herself.

“Go to sleep.” He said, “We’ll take care of you.” She smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek before curling into him and falling asleep.

 

A resonating “awe” passed through the Capitol at Mikasa’s display of affection. This, of course, sparked more love triangle nonsense in the capitol, as Marco gave Mikasa a surprised- slash- incredulous look, which was interpreted as jealousy by the Capitol, but was meant as an expression of concern towards her uncharacteristic behavior.

Levi smiled. He didn’t know what she was getting at with it, maybe she was just tired and expressing her thanks, but he had people flooding to him, wanting to sponsor his tributes, because they’d heard about their love triangle problems, and wanted to help them as much as possible, to soften the blow for Jean and Mikasa with their torn hearts.

He decided that he would treat them. They’d lost all of their food, and most of their weapons. All they had were Marcos’ remaining twelve bolts and whatever weapons were in the burlap bag Mikasa kept tied to her equipment.

He exited the room, hoping that nobody would come along and kill them while he was gone.

 

A clear tinkling sound woke Jean and Mikasa as the morning dawned. Marco turned to them, and watched as a basket attached to a parachute floated into Mikasa’s lap. She threw off the cloth that rested on the top and looked to Jean, smiling. He smiled back and looked down at all of the food. Marco came running down the branch, eager to see what was in the basket.

Mikasa handed both boys a fresh roll, and started chewing on one herself as they took in the food. Large chunks of cheese, various dried fruits, apples and rolls were crowded around a bowl filled with hunks of ham. 

Marco turned to beckon to Armin, but his expression changed from gleeful to terrified. “NO!” He yelled, taking off down the branch. Mikasa and Jean looked up just in time to see Armin, with his cable wrapped around his neck, jump off of the branch. Mikasa let loose a sob when they heard the loud snap of Armin’s neck and the canon went off. Marco turned back to them, tears rolling down his face. 

Mikasa turned and wrapped an arm around Jean’s chest, digging her face into the crook of his neck and bursting into tears.

 

It took them a long time to convince her to move. The crafts had to come and retrieve his body, which was still hanging limply from the branch. Marco took the basket out of her grasp and covered it with the cloth, tying it with a leather strip that he’d kept on him. 

Jean helped Mikasa to her feet and they shot off, leaving Armin hanging in the trees behind them.

 

Hannes sighed and clapped Levi on the shoulder. “See you next year. Hope your tributes meet a better end than mine.” Levi nodded as the older man walked away.

“Wait, Hannes, could I ask a favor of you?”

 

Jean and Marco tried to comfort Mikasa over dinner, but it didn’t seem to work. Although she’d tried not to get close to anyone except Jean, the small boy managed to worm his way into her heart. 

Jean volunteered to take the first watch that night. He would periodically check on his two remaining friends, make sure that they were alright. 

Armin’s suicide had taken a toll on all of them, mostly because, in the history of the Games, nobody had ever tried to commit suicide. But it seemed as if this game were full of firsts.

He was the first Tribute to be brought back from death’s doorstep; this was the first Games where the Careers were left close to helpless within the first couple of days, as well as the first Games where the Tributes had to fear death by mutation throughout the games and the first Games with two Victors. Eren had been the first Tribute to sacrifice his life for another Tribute, and then Armin was the first Tribute to take his own life.

Jean snorted. It was possibly, by Capitol standards, the most interesting Games ever.


	14. The Breaking Point

Over the course of the next day, Mikasa’s mood seemed to improve, and she went back to being her normal, gloomy self. They made their way, carefully, through the trees, occasionally stopping to nibble at what was in the basket. 

But they always kept an eye out for any of the other Tributes. 

Up until the day before, they’d been focused solely on defense. But with only eleven tributes left, they couldn’t just sit around and wait for the rest to kill each other off. If what Sasha had said in the meadow had been any indication, the rest were going to be focusing on killing them before they went after anybody else.

At this point, it was kill or be killed, no more hiding.

 

They’d stored their night-glasses in the burlap sack that held their weapons, which Mikasa, luckily, had tied to her back before the whole Titan fiasco. They wore the glasses at night, even when they slept. They didn’t want to be caught unprepared.

They kept up swinging around for the first few hours of darkness, hoping to see a fire or even some sleeping Tributes. But with no such luck they made camp for the night.

“You know, we’ve been allies since training, but we barely know anything about one another.” Marco said with a small chuckle. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Mikasa asked. “We can’t get to attached, not with everyone in the arena out to kill us.” Marco shrugged.

“Maybe, but I still think it would be a good idea to get to know each other.” Marco replied. 

“Well, if you’re so intent on it, then why don’t you start?” Mikasa asked, pulling her muffler up to protect against the cold wind.

“Alright.” Marco said, stretching out. “Well, my sponsor said that you two didn’t watch the reruns of the other reapings.” Both nodded the affirmative. 

“Well, I volunteered for my brother. He’s older than me, but it was his last Reaping, he was also very sickly, and wouldn’t have lasted long, so I volunteered. Two birds, one stone, you know? My brother didn’t get killed, and since I was the youngest and the last one still being reaped, my mother wouldn’t have to deal with three more years of the threat of another child being sent in.” he smiled at them. 

“It’s unusual for a younger sibling to volunteer for their older sibling.” Mikasa said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But that was very good of you.”

“Thank you.” 

“I stopped my friend from volunteering for me.” Mikasa admitted. The boys both stared at her, shocked.

“My parents, they don’t make a lot of money, but they’re wonderful and did almost anything to keep me healthy and happy. I found out that they were borrowing money from a victor, and that they would also do other work for him as well. It must’ve been Levi, he said that he knew my parents when they were in school, and I realize now that the other two male Victors wouldn’t have given them a single penny.

“When I was first told I was so beautiful I could marry whoever I wanted, I knew that I’d have to marry very well so that I could support my parents, whether it was marrying one of the Victors or one of the Mayor’s sons. My parents deserved that much. But when my name was called, I saw it as a chance. I could win and get the riches and the house and support my parents without having to marry someone I didn’t want to be with.

“My friend, she lived in the community house. She had no family left, nobody except me to miss her if she died. But when she started to volunteer I stopped her. She realized what I was doing, and let me do it. She didn’t look happy about it, but she let me go. I started to regret it on the train. But when I saw how popular we became with the Capitol after the parade, I knew I could do it.

“I put everything I could into training and being the best. I did something during the presentations that I thought would’ve hurt my score, but it seemed to have helped. When I said I’d kill whoever I needed to, I was mostly bluffing. But after I saw my score, I knew that I actually could, and would. And when they announced that there would be two winners, I saw my chance. Jean had the best score out of everyone else; I knew that if we could keep each other alive, that I would definitely go home. 

“I didn’t mean to get attached to anyone, not even Jean, but it still happened. I knew that, eventually I’d have to kill Armin and Eren and you, Marco. But I tried not to think about it. Saying I’d have no regrets was a lie. I would regret it. You’re a good friend.” She wiped away some dampness from her eyes. Marco reached over and gave her a hug.

“If it helps, I won’t don’t hold it against you.” He said, making her smile just a little bit. They turned then to Jean. “How about you? We’ve bared our souls, now it’s your turn.” 

Jean sighed and looked around again, searching for a sign that anyone had settled nearby.

“I’ve always been the most disappointing in my family. My brothers were all smarter than me, stronger than me, more handsome than me. The closest thing I had to feeling loved was Petra. She was like a sister to me. When she was sent off four years ago, I thought I’d lost my family; then she came home. She was different, but still family. 

“When I came here, I thought that if I won, especially if I beat Mikasa, that they’d actually be proud of me for once. Then they announced the two Victors thing, I knew then that it wouldn’t matter. My brothers still would be better than me cause I would’ve had a girl to save my skin.

“I’m not mad, I still get to live, but I know they’ll never, truly, be proud of me. And I’ll be fine with that.” He would have gone on, but he saw a small spark a few trees over. He pointed it out to Mikasa and Marco, who stood quickly and watched. There were more sparks, then a full fire sprang to life, illuminating the small, fragile, figure of Krista Lenz.

“You two stay here and pack up. I’ll go take care of her and when we get back we can move again.” Jean said in a low voice. The other two nodded and he sprang out of the tree, moving as quickly and quietly as possible. 

Ymir wasn’t with Krista, and for that he was glad, he had a feeling that she’d protect the smaller girl with her life. Krista was too busy warming up to notice Jean until he’d landed beside her. She looked up with a smile, but the happiness soon turned to an expression of fear as she realized that it wasn’t Ymir, but Jean, and he was drawing his sword. She scrambled to her feet.

“YMIR! YMIR!” She screamed, Jean heard the far of cry of the Krista’s name.

“I’m sorry.” He told the petrified girl. He took her by the shoulder, holding her in place, then stuck the sword into her chest. She let loose a small scream before she died. Jean withdrew the sword and placed the girl on the limb as the canon rang out. He heard Ymir’s cry, closer, but still far enough to give him time to leave. 

He went back to his friends and they flew off. Little did they know that Ymir was close behind them, and caught sight of Jean with a bloody blade before they disappeared out of sight.

 

Levi sat watching. He saw the regret on Jean’s face. Jean had never been one for killing, he knew that killing Franz early in the games probably took a toll on him, even if Franz had tried to kill him.

But his eyes weren’t on his tributes, but on Ymir and Krista. Ymir clutched the dead girl to her chest and cried. He’d seen their relationship develop, he watched as the bond became so strong that Ymir had taken the girl and run off during the storm. That was what had killed Connie springer. He’d allied himself with them and was forced to go with them as they hunted down the two girls. He hadn’t seen the tree that was in front of him, and had run into it head long at top speed, bashing his head in.

Ymir was now kissing the dead girl, over and over, apologizing and confessing her love. 

 

Mikasa pulled them over to make camp with a few hours of night left. She made Jean sleep, with her and Marco taking watch. They didn’t think that Ymir had followed them as best she could. They couldn’t possibly imagine that Ymir had her own set of night-glasses and had started to follow them a few hours later.

So they didn’t think to pack while the sun was coming up. 

Marco just happened to look up and see the girl zooming towards them, flying at full speed, a knife in her hand. He started to warn his friends, then he realized that she wasn’t looking at them, her gaze was fully on Jean.

She flung the knife and turned around, zooming back off. 

Jean felt Marco’s hand on his shoulder and was sent flying to the side, he heard a thick sound, one very similar to what he’d heard in the training center. He looked up to see Marco right where he’d been standing, looking down at a knife buried to the hilt in his chest, stunned.

“Ow.” He said lightly before starting to stumble forward. Jean shot forward and caught him.

“What happened?” Mikasa asked, hearing a cry of distress. She turned to see Jean helping Marco slowly to the ground and the blood flooding down Marco’s shirt. She ran to his side.

“Ymir.” Marco managed, looking at the blood seeping out. “She tried to kill Jean, but I stopped her.” Jean had remove the cloak from around Marco’s neck, pulled the knife out, and was holding the cloak to the wound.

“Jean, it’s not going to work.” Mikasa said gently, a tear rolling down her face.

“Hey, look on the bright side.” Marco said, his words starting to slur. “You’re not gonna have to kill me.” he said, smiling at Mikasa. “And I can’t really feel it.” he muttered.

“You fucking idiot.” Jean managed to say. Marco patted the other boy’s hand. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. But I want you two to promise me something first.” They both nodded. “Promise me that you’ll both win. Promise me that you’ll kick her ass and the asses of everyone else left.” 

“I promise.” Mikasa said, taking his hand and squeezing. Marco looked up to Jean.

“Promise.” The boy managed. Marco smiled, and the canon boomed, the smile still on his face.

Jean let out a cry that echoed through the forest, drawing all of the Titans to their area. He let the tears flow as Mikasa tried to sooth him. 

He didn’t know how long he held his friend, crying. But eventually Mikasa was shaking him.

“Jean, we need to move. Come on.” She said gently. She had to repeat this a few times before he finally agreed to put Marco’s body down. He volunteered to take what remained of the food and weapons. Mikasa agreed.

He shouldered everything up, and they were about to leave when Mikasa had an idea. She moved over to Marco’s body and removed the crossbow and bolts from his body.

“They might be useful.” Was all they said while she arranged them around the rest of their supplies.

 

Ymir had made it back to the Careers and joined up with them once again, joining them was Sasha, who’d probably realized she wasn’t going to live if she had no help, and her hunting and tracking skills were valuable to the other kids.

 

But, unknown to everyone except the Game- Makers, a very odd Titan was making its way towards Jean and Mikasa. It was climbing trees and jumping across them, quickly advancing towards a spot where it would intercept the unsuspecting Tributes.

Jean had gotten ahead of Mikasa by quite a bit. She’d slowed down, and was letting him recover from Marco’s sacrifice. 

She looked around when she heard a rustle in the trees. Jean heard nothing.

She started to reach towards her blades when the Titan sprang towards her, hand outstretched. It caught her and brought her crashing against a tree, crushing her legs between it’s hand and the trunk. 

It was then that Jean heard a long, high pitched scream. He recognized it as Mikasa’s and turned to see her pinned against the tree, beating on the hand of the Titan with her fists. 

“NO!” he bellowed, switching course as the Titan started to form a fist around his friend. She looked over, tears in her eyes.

“JEAN, DON’T! TURN AROUND! RUN! YOU PROMISED MARCO!” she screamed as the Titan brought her closer. But Jean was heading towards them at full speed. 

‘Not her too.’ He thought. He realized that she’d stopped struggling. ‘No, she’s not dying!’

Mikasa was now just crying as the Titan brought her to its mouth, hoping that her death would be quick.

But what she didn’t see was Jean flying towards the Titan, blades at the ready and the claws of his 3D devices sunk into the Titan’s neck. Right as the titan was about to put Mikasa into its mouth, Jean let loose a roar, retracted his wires and spun in a circle, swinging his swords with all his might, cutting completely through the Titan’s neck. 

The Titan fell to the ground, the grip started to loosen around Mikasa and Jean grabbed her under the shoulders, pulled her free, and scooped her into his arms before flying away. Mikasa threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as she cried into his neck.

 

Levi laughed. Joy and relief filled him as he watched Jean take Mikasa away. And then there were the faces of the Careers to take in. They’d started smiling when they heard Mikasa’s scream. It was possible that they thought Marco had tried to kill her, since Ymir had told them that the first canon was for Jean. But their smiles started to fade as the moments passed and no canon sounded. 

 

Jean found a tree that was a little hollow, just enough room for him and Mikasa to sit and rest, out of sight. Mikasa was still shaking, but her tears had stopped. Jean held her in his arms and tried to sooth her.

“J-just leave me.” she said, hiccupping. “I’ll just be an unnecessary burden.” Jean glared down at her.

“I thought you wanted to go home to your parents!” he said, outraged. “I thought you wanted to take care of them! And I thought you’d promised Marco that you’d win!”

Mikasa burst into tears again. “Jean, I’m useless, my legs are shattered. I can’t walk, my equipment is broken.” 

“Yes, but I help you take off your harness then I can make a sling and carry you around on my back.”

“But what about the careers? How’re you supposed to take them on with me on your back.” Jean grinned at her as he helped strip her of the straps.

“They’ll leave and go looking for us, see why you screamed and didn’t die.” He said. He started to rearrange the straps, quickly forming a makeshift harness and putting it on Mikasa. “I’ll head to the Cornucopia and wait until they’re all gone. We’ll set you up with the crossbow and I’ll wait for them, kill them off when they get back. This ends here.”

 

He was right, of course, though they were thinking something else. They left in a group moments before he and Mikasa arrived at the Cornucopia. They realized that if there had been no canons, then that meant that Mikasa and Marco had both escaped a fight wounded, and therefore easier to kill.

They made camp at the edge of the meadow where they’d escaped the Titan, ready to look for them in the morning. Meanwhile, Jean had set up the tables and boxes so that there was a barrier between the outside world and the inside of the cornucopia. Mikasa had a chair made of a barrel that had once held water, and propped up the crossbow.

Jean made a fire, ready to throw backpacks and sleeping bags onto it to keep it going. 

Both teams were set up and ready, with Reiner and Jean taking the watches. An hour or so into the night, the anthem started to play, and the Careers were filled with fear when they saw Krista’s image, followed by that of Marco. 

They’re biggest rivals were both still alive. Ymir and Sasha reminded them that Jean was wounded, which Sasha they had both seen close up, as his sleeves were still stained with blood. And they also pointed out that Mikasa was probably wounded as well, using the scream she’d made as evidence.

This was only a minor comfort, because they all remembered the scores that they’d had.

Still, both teams knew that tomorrow, it would end. Whether it was because they were killed, or the other team was killed.


	15. Victorious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this one is really long. I just had so much to fit into it.

The sleeping Tributes were woken up the next say, not by each other, but by the sound of a bell ringing through the Arena.

“Good morning, Tributes!” Caesar Flickerman’s voice echoed through the arena. “I am afraid that I’ve got a bit of bad news for some of you. We had a ruling some nights ago, as issued by President Reiss. But with all of the excitement, it was never announced. There can only be two victors if they are from the same District. Thank you for your time.”

Not long after the announcement, a canon sounded. “Sasha must’ve bit it.” Mikasa said, “She wouldn’t have been able to beat every last one of us.

“Good. That leaves the Careers. Do me a favor and only shoot Ymir if she’s about to attack me from behind.” Jean said. Mikasa nodded. 

They didn’t say another word. Jean leaned up against the table and listened for the sound of 3D cables zipping through the air.

They didn’t hear them until the sun had reached its peak. Jean stood and walked to the mouth of the Cornucopia as Mikasa loaded a bolt into the crossbow. They didn’t have to wait long before each of the four Careers had landed on the limbs before him. He looked around and smiled amiably at each.

“Good afternoon.” He said, tightening his grip on the hand pieces of the 3D device. Reiner smiled back at him.

“Well, let’s hope it’s good, it’ll be your last.”

“Really? My last? I don’t think so.” Annie smiled.

“Listen, Jean, you act all tough, and maybe you managed an eleven back at the Capitol, but you’ve done nothing to prove to us that you actually earned it like we earned our tens.” She said.

Jean’s blades were out in a second, he spun them around a few times before gripping them firmly, and looking her dead in the yes. “Then why don’t you come and find out how I earned it?”

Reiner nodded to Bertholt, who jumped towards Jean and tried to use his 3D device to fly towards Jean, who was ready to slice him into little bits. But there was a small puttering sound and Bertholt fell, screaming, into the mass of Titans that had congregated beneath them.

The rest watched. The remaining three careers blanched.

“Hmm, out of gas.” Jean said casually, watching as the Titan’s ripped Bertholt limb from limb. “I wonder, how are you three on gas? I filled up last night.” 

They all glared at him, he noticed that Ymir’s eyes were red and puffy. She’d been crying over Krista, no doubt. 

Then they charged. Reiner and Annie were the first to reach him. The forest was filled with the clanging of steel on steel and the small cries of pain issuing from The Tributes from District One. Mikasa turned her attention to Ymir, who seemed to be bypassing Jean, and heading striahgt for Mikasa. She was quicker than Mikasa had expected, dodging the bolt and tackling her before Mikasa could manage to reload.

The two girls went tumbling. Ymir bounded away and drew out her knives, ready to protect herself from Mikasa. Mikasa reached for the crossbow, which was inches away from her hand, but couldn’t move well enough to grab it. Ymir grinned.

“Annie! Mikasa can’t move!” she yelled before kicking the crossbow away and Kicking Mikasa in the stomach. She straddled Mikasa, who was to out of breath to shout, and smiled down. “Jean took away everything when he killed Krista.” She breathed before cutting deeply into Mikasa’s cheek.

“JEAN!” She cried out.

“Now it’s my turn to repay the favor.” She snarled before breaking Mikasa’s nose with a punch. She continued to punch, while, in a flurry of motion outside, Jean kicked Annie away and sliced Reiner into a few pieces. 

The Canon blocked out Annie’s roar of dismay. She jumped at Jean, and right before she would have slashed at him, he dropped and rolled to the side, sending Annie over the edge, screaming. But she had just enough gas to send a hook into the bottom of the platform. 

“JEAN!” Mikasa cried again. His name was followed by a scream as Ymir sliced out a chunk of Mikasa’s arm. Jean quickly ran to the side and sliced Annie’s wire. He ran back to the horn, ignoring Annie’s screams as she plummeted down.

He jumped over the table as Ymir brought the knife down into Mikasa’s chest. Jean roared again and before Ymir could move, he’d lopped off her head and sent it flying. 

Mikasa was still breathing; the blade had just barely missed her heart. Ymir’s canon sounded, but he could still hear Annie screaming. He grabbed the crossbow and a bolt, then gently scooped Mikasa into his arms and ran to the edge of the platform. Annie was hanging off of a branch by her cloak, just barely out of reach of the Titan’s.

Jean hurriedly slipped the bolt into place. Mikasa’s breaths were shorter and shallower now. He dropped her legs and pointed the crossbow at Annie. He took a deep breath and shot. His heart stopped as he followed the course of the bolt. The screams stopped as the bolt went through her eye socket.

The canon sounded and Jean hoisted Mikasa back up as Caesar came back on and announced them as the Victors of the games. But Jean didn’t care, Mikasa was barely breathing now, and his sights were on the sky, waiting for the ladder to appear and take them away. After a moment it materialized in front of him. He took Mikasa’s hand and placed it on a rung before stepping up and grabbing hold of one himself.

Jean felt as if it were taking too long, he was scared that he’d hear her canon sound before they reached the craft. But she was still breathing when the latched closed under him and he was released from the ladder. Doctors and nurses rushed forward, and he slipped Mikasa into their arms.

“Save her, please, save her,” was all he could say as they carried her into another room. A nurse walked up to him as he watched Mikasa disappear into a room.

The nurse smiled at him.

“You need to sit down, sweetheart.” She said, pushing him towards a bench behind him.

“No, not until she’s okay.” He muttered, resisting.

“Son, there’s nothing you can do for her, please sit down.” she said, pushing harder. He let her push and sat down on the cold seat. She handed him a cup of water, but he refused to take it. “Sweetheart, you’re dehydrated, you need to drink.”

“Not thirsty.” He informed her.

“You’re in shock, you don’t realize that you’re thirsty, but you are. Drink.” 

Exchanges like this went on until they reached the medical center. Jean was as close to a zombie as possible, just doing what the nurses and doctors told him to do, not really comprehending what was being said to him. 

All he knew was that he only blinked, closing his eyes inside the craft, just to open his eyes and find himself in the apartment he’d stayed in before the games.

He looked around, bewildered. He was lying on the couch, and almost everything was the same, except that the pajamas that had fit him perfectly a couple of weeks ago were loose. 

He hadn’t realized how much weight he’d lost in the arena. He sat up, slowly and saw that Hange and Levi were sitting at the dinner table, playing cards. Levi looked up when he heard the movement and smiled.

“Ah, you’re awake. We knew you were tired, but didn’t realize that you’d fall asleep on the couch.” Jean blinked at him.

“But, how did I get here?” he asked.

“You must’ve blacked out, I thought you were to quiet. You walked, you did everything we’d asked you to do; you probably would’ve jumped off a bridge if that’s what you were asked.” Levi said, placing his cards on the table and walking towards Jean.

“Where’s Mikasa? Is she alright?” he asked.

“She’s still in the medical center, she hasn’t woken up yet. She went through a great deal more physical trauma than you did, and possibly more mental and emotional trauma. They say that she probably won’t wake up for a week or so. I’m not saying she couldn’t wake up before then, but it’s more likely that it will be that long. And they won’t let her out for even longer; they’ll need to get her eating solid food before that happens.” Levi explained.

“Meaning I have to sit around waiting for her to recover?” Jean asked. “Can I at least visit her?”

“I’m afraid that I’m the only one that’s allowed to visit. So, yes, you will be sitting around. But you’ll be building your strength back up, eating, sleeping, recovering. There was a petition to get you out and doing interviews, but I got all of the mentors, even from the Career Districts, to call in and explain how ridiculous it was, that you’d be in no state to present, blah, blah, blah. You’re welcome for that, by the way.” Jean nodded his thanks.

“If you need or want anything, just let us know.” Hange said, “We can get a hold of whatever you need. Now would actually be a good time to take up a hobby. Starting today you’ll have quite a bit of free time.”

 

Levi made him eat. They gave him water laced with various vitamins, and a comforting soup filled with potatoes and sausage. It made him tired once more, having a full stomach. So he excused himself and headed towards his room.

“Oh, Jean. There’s something waiting for you in your room, something that took me some persuading to get my hands on.” Levi said before waving Jean off.

On his pillow he found his necklace, he hadn’t realized that it had been taken off, and a leather pouch. He put on the necklace before emptying the contents of the pouch.

A small black frame fell into his open palm; he flipped it over to see what was behind the glass, and held back a sob. A patch that would fit in his pal rested inside, embroidered with the number eleven, underneath the badge was a small rectangular piece of paper, on which ‘Marco Bott District Eleven’ was written in Levi’s hand writing.

He gently placed the frame on his bedside table and crawled into bed, making a mental note to thank Levi when he woke up.

 

The first few days back from the arena were spent either sleeping or eating, interspersed with taking three showers a day, due to Levi’s hate of germs and sweat. If it weren’t for the fact that Jean would wake up every few hours sweating because he’d have a nightmare, he would’ve put his foot down, but because of that reason, and because he knew Levi wanted him to take more than one shower, he didn’t even complain.

On the fifth day, he felt rested enough to do something besides sleep. 

“Hange, please don’t go overboard with this, but can you find me something to do?” He knew immediately that he should’ve asked Levi, because the woman’s eyes started to burn with a demonic light.

“Of course, I’ll be right back.” She said, before rushing to the elevator. Levi had been about to go check on Mikasa, but sat back down and picked up a book.

“I want to see what she picks for you.” He explained.

Hange arrived a couple hours later, the elevator filled with shopping bags. Jean stood next to the elevator with his arm in the doorway as the other two brought in the bags.

Hange started to arrange everything on the table for Jean to see and take his pick, and the boy stared wide eyed at the contents. 

At first glance he saw some sort of musical instrument, a large drawing pad and various pencils, what looked like clay, and yarn and knitting needles. Then he really looked at the table. She’d bought a sewing machine and fabric, everything he would’ve needed for embroidery, and…

“What is this?” he asked, picking up a roll of various sharp tools. 

“Oh, that’s for sculpting.” She said as if it should’ve been obvious. Levi started snickering. Jean kept looking and saw a case of clay sitting atop a table with a spinning top.

“Pottery?” he asked. Hange nodded.

After a few moments he picked up the drawing pad and pencils. Levi left and Hange nodded and told him to take his pick of the various materials if he changed his mind.

He didn’t think he could really draw, but, not unlike his experience during his presentation, his hands took over.

By lunch time, he’d sketched out a picture of Mikasa on the train. Hange peeked over his shoulder.

“Wow, you really have a knack for this. Did you take drawing lessons in school?” Jean replied by shaking his head. 

By the end of the day, when Levi got back, it was clear that Jean wasn’t going to touch anything else on the table and Hange had started to put the contents back in the bag.

Levi smiled and looked at the drawings. “Leave some of that for Mikasa; you don’t know what she’ll want to pick up. No, god dammit, she won’t want to make sculptures. Take that shit back.” 

So Hange left with almost everything, leaving a few, Levi approved items. After the door closed behind Hange, Levi plopped down next to Jean.

“Mikasa woke up today. She couldn’t handle much at the moment, but they said she’ll be fine.” Levi said. Jean sighed in relief.

 

A week and a half later, Jean walked into the Main room to be greeted by the sight of two stacks of framed and unframed drawings, as well as Levi and a very thin figure wrapped with a red muffler sitting on the couch.

“Mikasa!” Jean yelled, catching the girl’s attention. He bounded into the living room and scooped her into a hug. She clung to him, burying her face into his chest, and began to cry. Jean let her cry and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down.

She eventually stopped crying, and pulled away, apologizing for wetting the front of Jean’s shirt. They managed to get her to eat something afterwards, and they gave her the same vitamin laced water that Jean was still drinking.

“Now, typically, they like to present the winners after he or she gets out of medical.” Levi said to them both. “I’ve managed to convince them to give you two more days. But on the third you’ll both have to go through it, no matter how shitty Mikasa looks.”

They both thanked him, and Mikasa went off to bed, but came out a few minutes later, holding a small frame reverently. Her eyes were tearing up as she walked briskly towards Levi and hugged him, crying once again. Jean gently turned the frame, which was clutched in her right hand, so that he could see it. Inside was a badge on which the number three was embroidered, along with a piece of paper labeled ‘Armin Arlert District Three.’

Jean and Mikasa spent the next two days reading on the couch. Or rather, they reclined on the couch while Jean read and Mikasa used his chest as a pillow. 

Mikasa retired early on the day before they were presented as the Victors.

Levi glanced up at Jean, who’d started to work on yet another drawing.

“Jean, I’ve been meaning to ask this, but there was never a really good time. Why didn’t you leave Mikasa behind? She wanted you to, but you put yourself in danger to rescue her.” Jean stopped.

“Because, well, I don’t have much… I don’t mean materially, but relationship wise… I didn’t realize I needed friendship as much as I did until the Games. It had always been me and Petra, I didn’t have any other friends besides her, and my family didn’t really care about me. But, when I got here, I met you and Mikasa and Eren and Armin and Marco. It was more friendship than I’d had in my entire life. 

“When Eren died, I began to feel the loss, but only minorly. Then Armin jumped, followed by Marco, and I felt so empty. But I still had Mikasa, and I think I knew that she was all I’d really have at the end of the games, like I knew that the general two Victors was too good to be true. But, when the Titan got her, I felt… Hollow, I think. I could handle living without Marco and Armin and Eren, but if I lost Mikasa, that was it. I would have lost almost all of my friends.

“I had wondered if I’d made the right decision, but when Ymir stabbed her, I felt empty. As if everything had been ripped away from me, just from the mere knowledge she could die. I realized when I came to here, and you said she’d live, that I’d made the right decision.” He said. Levi smiled sadly and clapped Jean on the shoulder.

“Tell that to Caesar in a couple of days and you’ll make the entire Capitol cry.” Jean smiled.

“I’ll remember that.”

 

Both Jean and Mikasa were dragged out of bed by their stylists the next morning. They both protested at being woken up so early, even though it was almost eleven o’ clock, and were dragged into the elevator. 

During the interviews, they’d been set up in dressing rooms under the Tribute housing, but they were shoved in a car and driven down to the stage set up somewhere downtown. 

Jean turned to Rico after he was escorted into his dressing room. “Why were we brought here so early?” he asked. She giggled.

“Because we have to start from scratch; the hair’s grown back, there’s dirt to remove from pores, nails to trim, stuff like that. See you in a couple of hours.” And with that she turned and walked out the door, leaving Jean once again to the mercy of the make- over team.

When Rico returned, she found a freshly groomed Jean glaring at her from the table. She brought with her the drawing pad and pencils that he’d left in the apartment. 

“Sorry, we don’t have to do as much to you as the other team has to do on Mikasa, so I brought these for you afterwards.” She said, before going to work, arranging his hair into various styles, and applying make-up that would, supposedly, make him look as healthy as he’d been at the beginning of the games.

Before long, they were helping him into a simple outfit very similar to the one he’d worn at the interviews. 

They waited at least another hour and a half before they were told that Mikasa was ready. Hange waited outside and took the drawing supplies back out to the car. Levi led Jean down a long hall that lead to the stage. Mikasa sat on a chair, resting. She wasn’t dressed in a stunningly elegant manner, as she had been at the interviews, nor in a regal manner as she had been for the parade. 

She wore a very simple floor length tulle dress. It started under her chest, so it didn’t show how thin she’d become. Her hair was draped around her face in curls to soften the angles of her face, and her make up helped with that, giving her a very girlish appearance.

“Hey, so, did you get the full treatment too?” She asked, smiling wryly. 

“Depends on the treatment, although, I will argue that having the hair ripped off of my body hurts more than getting stabbed in the arm.” He joked, making her snort.

 

They were motioned to go to the back of the stage, and wait to be sent onto the stage. And a few moments later an orchestra was struck up, and the adults were very slowly sent onto the stage. Mikasa slipped her arm underneath Jeans and clung to him for support, much like she had at the interviews, and they were sent out.

The crowd roared as they made their way to the front of the stage and took their place in front of adjoined thrones. After a speech from the president, they were presented with their laurels and were allowed to sit down, much to Mikasa’s relief, for a montage of their time on the games.

Jean thought that Mikasa dozed off a few times during the long video, but she never started awake. A few more speeches followed and they were allowed to go back.

 

Since they’d been prepped the day before, they were allowed to sleep in an hour or so longer before the day proceeded in much the same way. They were taken to Caesar’s studio, prepped, made up and dressed up.

They were brought out in front of a huge crowd of people. They were placed in chairs and Caesar interrogated them about their feeling as thoughts about certain times during the games, going back and forth between the two victors, who were trying to make their frightened thought as witty as possible.

“Jean,” Caesar said, turning serious. “Can you tell us your thoughts when you heard Mikasa scream and saw that she was in danger?” There weren’t even whispers in the auditorium. Jean took a moment and put his thoughts together before he answered.

“I just thought, ‘not her.’” He replied simply. 

“I see, and am I guessing right that the thought ‘not her’ was what spurred you into action?” Jean replied with a nod. “Can you explain why saving her was a priority over your own health after you’d gotten onto the hover-craft?” 

“Well, I should probably explain that I was very lonely growing up with one friend. And from the minute that I stepped foot on the train, that started to change. I made tentative friendships with Mikasa and Levi, which were strengthened over the course of the week. Then I met Marco the day after the reaping, he turned and started talking to me, acting friendlier to me than I was used to.

“Then came Armin and Eren. Then, once I started the games, I started to lose them in the order that I’d met them until I was left with only Mikasa. Mikasa was attacked mere hours after Marco had died, and I realized that if I lost her, then I would have had to deal with so much. I could’ve taken on the rest of the tributes, that’s true, but I would have had to go home and looked her parents in the eye, knowing that I could have saved their daughter, but didn’t.

“I also would have lost one of my last friends. I realized that, if I didn’t save her, whether I had been killed or had still emerged as a Victor, I wouldn’t have won, not without her there with me.”

At this, the crowd sighed and started to clap. Caesar had to wipe away a few tears, even Mikasa reached over and squeezed his hand. 

“So touching, so, so touching.” Caesar said, scanning over the two. “Now, I have to know, will you two be acting on your feelings for each other once you go home?” he asked. This earned un-comprehending stares from the two. Out of nowhere he produced a few newspapers and handed them to the two.

The titles were dedicated to “LOVE TRIANGLE?” Jean cried, turning a bright side of red. Mikasa shook her head, denying it with every fiber of her being.

The last part of their interview was spent trying to deny any feelings of the sorts for their fellow Tributes, and for each other.

 

Much to their relief, they were loaded onto the train the next day, and sent on their way home. 

“I can’t believe it.” Mikasa said as they watched the country pass them by. “I actually get to take care of them. They’ll get to live in a nice house and have all the money they want to spend. They’ll be able to eat good food and wear nice clothes.” A smile crept across her face.

“Yeah, you did what you wanted to do.” Jean said, glad she was finally smiling. 

“Jean, last night, did you mean what you said? About not really winning and all that?” she asked, turning back to him.

“Every word.”

 

They were both ecstatic when they pulled into the station. The minute they stepped off the train they were greeted by applause and cheers. They barely had time to smile before Mikasa’s parents and Petra were on the platform greeting them. Mikasa’s parents elveloped her as Petra hugged Jean.

When she pulled away, he found that Mikasa’s mother was walking towards him, her arms outstretched and he found himself in her arms.

“Thank you. You saved my baby. Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i may or may not follow up on this fan fiction with a fluffier piece following life after the games for them, but i'm not sure yet. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
